Soul Clash
by Anubis Enfield
Summary: "I'm not Charlotte!" I argued again. "I told you, my name's Kris! Kris Lewis! I-I was in a car accident!" The group exchanged glances, but muttered reassurances to me about being confused before I nearly had a heart attack when I looked in the mirror. T-That's… That's not me. That face isn't mine! What the hell is going on!
1. Won and Lost

**Wondered how it would be like for the Doctor to deal with someone who'd been dropped into another person's body. Warning: hints of suicide**

* * *

A life. A death. A flame snuffed out on a candle as tires skid on the wet road. A mother felt heartbreak. A father cried while two brothers understood nothing. A soul soared, free from the body for only a moment. Another soul, torn, ragged, exhausted, tired. The blade looking so pleasing. The crimson flood. Sirens, panic, success. Tired angels wandered white halls, peering in on slumbering patients. The souls clashed. One with the want to live. The other with the want to die. Both meshed and fought. A fever rose, nurses worried. A Doctor slept next door, unaware of the battle raging in the bed beside him. And then silence. The war had been won. The body inhabited peacefully once more. But which soul survived? The twenty-seven-year-old woman torn from her family on a rainy night after a mechanical malfunction? Or the young college student who had tired of loneliness and life's suffering and took the only other option available to her. The end.

* * *

I woke up disoriented, frowning slightly at the white ceiling in confusion. _Where…_ I grimaced then, head aching sharply in pain. _God, I feel like I was hit by a semi-truck._ I gasped then, suddenly sitting up and looking over myself in a panic as I remembered. _I-I was. I was hit by a truck. H-He was heading into my lane and I tried to brake, but they weren't working. So how am I alive? H-How am I unhurt?_ I noticed the bandages on my wrists, but that would hardly account for slamming into a truck and it was then that I noticed something else. _I'm… pale. Like_ really _pale. I was tan before. It was summer, I'd been working outside with my father on setting up the pool for my brothers. I-I was_ tan _and my fingers were short and pudgy, now they're thin and long. I-I don't understand._ I brought a hand up to run it through my short hair, but my hair was _much_ longer than before and lightly touched my shoulder blades. _How long have I been here?_ I swallowed thickly before finding the call button and quickly pressing it multiple times. A nurse hurried in then and stared gaping at me as I tried to speak.

"T-Thank God. W-What's going on? How long have I been here?"

"Doctor!" She shouted, rushing from the room as I lifted a hand in a vain attempt to stop her.

She soon returned though with a number of other nurses and doctors; all of whom were rather pleased I was awake. I believe I heard someone mentioning how they'd expected me to stay in a coma for longer than I did. And yet, I'd only been asleep for a week. _But how did my hair grow out? How did I lose my tan? W-Why don't I feel right?_ They then asked me questions about who I was, but they kept calling me by a different name. They kept calling me Charlotte Cooper and when I insisted that that wasn't my name, they looked at me like I was nuts!

"I'm not Charlotte!" I argued again. "I told you, my name's Kris! Kris Lewis! I-I was in a car accident!"

The group exchanged glances, but muttered reassurances to me about being confused before leaving me with a nurses who assisted me to the restroom—despite my not needing her help—only for me to nearly have a heart attack when I looked in the mirror. _T-That's… That's not me. That face isn't mine! What the hell is going on?!_ I ran my hands over my gaunt face, fingers brushing sharp cheek bones and a small mole along my jaw. Bright blue eyes stared back at me instead of my dark green ones and my straight pitch black hair was now a curly brown. _T-This isn't me!_ I could feel my legs growing weak and I stumbled back, vaguely hearing the nurse outside asking if I was alright. I still don't know how I managed to walk myself out of the bathroom and reassure her I was okay before returning to my bed to panic on my own.

 _W-What the hell… What is this? What sort of sick joke is this? This isn't my face, my body, my name. Everything is wrong. What about my family? My mom and dad and brothers. Did I… Did I really… die? Is that it? I died and somehow ended up like this? But how?_ Why? _And this body… It's not mine. So who's is it? Why aren't they here trying to kick me out of their body? Are they still in it somewhere? God, this is so messed up. I-I… I don't know what to do. I can't make heads or tails of this._ I tried to calm my racing heart, knowing that the nurses would be after me in an instant if I wasn't careful and I knew I couldn't deal with any more questions or anything right now. So I curled up on my bed and pulled the covers up, doing my best to keep my sobs down to a minimum so as not to disturb my neighbor.

* * *

The next morning, I felt marginally better. I had calmed down and forced myself to relax, though I was still tense and upset about the whole body switch thing and the fact that the nurses would give me odd looks when I insisted they call me Kris. But I'd managed to get more of the story on how this… Charlotte person got to be here. _And it explains why I'm not getting resistance for being in this body, if my theory on being dead is correct. No family, no friends, struggling through school and a smoking and drinking problem. Man, she had it rough._ _That, and it explains the nurse who watches me eat and takes away my utensils the moment I'm finished. They've got me on suicide watch._ I sighed softly, the nurse watching me eat giving me a small smile as I gave up eating after only a few bites.

"Finished already, Char— _Kris_?"

I nodded, pushing the table aside and allowing her to take it. "Is there anything I can… read? Or a puzzle book or something I can do?"

"I'll see what I can find." She replied, eventually returning with a logic puzzle book and a pen.

I thanked her absentmindedly, waiting until she was gone to scratch at the itchy bandages on my wrists before getting comfortable and working on the puzzles. I wasn't distracted long before I felt eyes on me and I turned to see someone surprising watching me with a goofy grin from the bed next to mine.

"Hello!" David Tennant chirped as I blinked in shock. "How are you doing today, Kris was it? I'm the Doctor!"

A chill went down my spine. _No. No, he's joking right? A-And just when I thought this situation couldn't get worse. Are you telling me I died and ended up in Doctor Who now?_

"You look like a patient to me." I blurted out and he chuckled.

"Humor! Love it. What's that you're writing in?"

I glanced at the book and tightened my grip on it before looking back at him, mind still reeling from the fact that he was acting just like the Tenth Doctor.

"Logic puzzle book. I asked the nurse for something to do and she brought me this."

"Ooh, logic puzzles. Are those the ones where you have clues and have to check off boxes to figure out which person did what thing on what day with whom?"

I slowly nodded. "Yeah, though not all of them are… about that."

He hummed, but I caught his eyes on my wrists and felt uncomfortable despite the suicide attempt having not been of my own doing.

"You doing alright though?" He questioned, his sad gaze turning to my face instead and I nodded.

"Yeah. Eager to leave and…" I trailed off.

 _And what? Charlotte doesn't exist anymore; not that I know of, anyway. So I get out of the hospital and… start over?_

"No plans then?"

I shook my head, turning my gaze back to my puzzles. "Not really. I… I'll need to start over. I'm not… I'm not Charlotte."

"Ah, I heard." He mused out loud. "You believe you are Kris who was in a car accident, right?"

"I _am_ Kris." I pressed angrily, annoyed at everyone insisting I wasn't, but then I winced; knowing that I wasn't helping myself get out of the hospital by insisting this.

 _They already think I'm nuts and have signed me up for therapy too. God, how do I explain to someone that I_ died _and ended up in this body without sounding like I'm nuts? Much less, explain how I may be in one of my favorite sci-fi television series._ I dragged a hand down my face with a heavy sigh. _At least I'm not freaking out about that. Though anything's possible at this point. Why not ending up in a different universe where Doctor Who is real?_

"Sorry." I muttered, but he smiled.

"Oh, it's fine. I suppose I sounded a bit disbelieving, but really, I believe you."

 _Doubt it._ I mused silently. _I know I sound nuts you're just saying that to keep me content._ We heard voices then and I frowned, knowing that whoever was approaching was going to needlessly ask me the same questions they've been repeating time and time again. _And if I don't snap at them, then I'll be amazed._ The curtain was pushed aside on the Doctor's side— _I'll just call him that, since I doubt I'm in bed next to David Tennant at this point_ —and a group of students stood there with their 'professor' of sorts, only sending my mind into more panic. _Dear God, I'm in Doctor who. That's Martha Jones. A-And this has to be the beginning of 'Smith and Jones'. My life's just a full on mess now, isn't it?_

"Now then, Mister Smith. A very good morning to you. How are you today?" Mr.— _Stoker, I think it is?—_ asked, but I sort of zoned out a bit, focusing on not tightening my grip on the puzzle book in my hands until the curtain was pulled back on my little space as well; making me jump.

"Ah, apologies if we disturbed you, Miss Cooper." Stoker smiled and I frowned.

"It's _Lewis_."

His lips twitched. "Yes. If you believe so." He then turned to the group. "This is Miss Charlotte Cooper—"

"Kris _Lewis_." I pressed again, but he ignored me.

"—and after a stressful ordeal—"

I tightened my grip on the book as a number of sympathetic eyes shifted to my wrists and forced myself to stare at my puzzle book instead of glaring at them.

"—she was unconscious for the time period of one week and has since blocked out her memory of the event and previous events. She now believes she is patient Kris Lewis who was in a car accident, though as you can see, that it not the case."

I grit my teeth tightly. _Just ignore him. Just pretend they're not there._

"With no immediate family, we have already begun making plans to send her to a facility where she will get the proper help and care that she needs. Until then though, we are making sure her health is taken care of properly and that her wounds are cleaned and on the road to proper healing." He smiled, before holding an arm out to lead the group elsewhere.

There was a sharp 'snap' and I winced as I looked down at the broken pen I now held, begrudgingly closing my puzzle book and setting the pieces of the pen aside to stew angrily.

"Idiot. The lot of them. I'm not fucking crazy."

"I don't think you are." The Doctor's voice piped in and I frowned over at him.

"Says the guy getting a trip to psychiatric." I mocked him and he chuckled.

"Yeah, well, I'll get out of that somehow."

"Lucky you." I grumbled and he got up from his bed and pulled a chair up beside mine.

"Hey now. It's not so bad."

"Oh, yeah. No, course not." I said sarcastically. "The hospital thinks I'm some psychotic suicidal idiot who can't make my own proper decisions and have delusions of being someone I _am_ , but they insist I'm not. Not to mention that I don't even know who this Charlotte chick is, where she lives or anything about her. They're probably assuming I have amnesia and experienced such a'traumatic experience' that I shut everything out and imagined a new person for me to become to cope. I can't even get some damn decent food without some stupid nurse hovering over me like I'll kill myself with my spoon."

He rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, alright. Point taken. Things aren't _great_ , but I can at least do something about the food thing. What do you want to eat?"

I eyed him suspiciously. "Something carbonated with a ton of caffeine and jello. Maybe a chocolate bar."

He smiled. "Now that I can do. I saw a vending machine downstairs and convincing one of the nurses for a spare jello cup shouldn't be too hard."

 _Not with those looks._ I idly mused, unashamed of the small crush I had on David Tennant. _Or the big one I have on the Doctor, but let's not mention that too much._ He waved and headed out, leaving me alone to bury my face in my hands. _I've lost it. I'm nuts. I just know it. That Stoker guy_ should _lock me up, because this is just insane. I died, ended up in someone else's body, and just so happened to have popped up in the middle of a British sci-fi television show that I enjoy in the hospital bed next to the_ Doctor _of all people!_

"Kris? You alright?"

I looked up, seeing the Doctor and feeling my heart just throb as he gave me a worried look; a chocolate bar, soda, and two jello packs in his hands.

"You okay?"

"You… Y-You called me Kris." I muttered in shock and he smiled slightly.

"Well, that _is_ your name, isn't it?"

"B-But you're the only one who's called me that since I woke up." I breathed out. "W-Why? Why are you being so nice to me? You don't even know me."

 _And I know more about you than you'd appreciate._

"Well…" He rubbed the back of his head, depositing the goods on my bed and grabbing one of the jello cups for himself. "You're interesting and I think it's wrong of them to treat you the way they have been. If you say you're Kris Lewis, then that's who you are. And you've got a good head on your shoulders. I doubt you'd be making it up or lying about it. There's no point." He grinned. "Besides, I like you. You're funny and clever and are going through a unique situation but are able to keep your head on your shoulders and not panic. And you stick to what you believe is true. You should be a lawyer. I'll bet your poker face is great."

I snorted, managing a small smile that made his eyes light up.

"Ah-ha! I knew there was a smile in there somewhere!" He teased and I playfully shoved him.

"Shut up. I just haven't had a reason to smile till some goofy weird guy in the hospital bed next to me brought me food and gave me the compliment of a lifetime."

"Of a lifetime?" The Doctor mused, wiggling his brows at me as I rolled my eyes.

"Don't get cocky. I'm happy, alright? Now shut up and eat your jello."

He smiled again and I began to eat my own jello when I heard the pitter-patter of rain on the window. _Oh no…_ I looked at the window and stopped, speaking up quietly.

"Doctor?"

"Hm?" He hummed and I pointed at the window.

"The rain… it's going up."

He turned as well and blinked in surprise before the whole building suddenly shook. I tumbled from the bed, feeling arms grab a hold of me and prevent me from cracking my head on the floor as the building quaked for a bit longer until it finally stopped.

"You alright, Kris?"

I looked at the Doctor's face, inches from my own and fought the redness in my cheeks. "Y-Yeah, I think I'm okay. Thanks. But what was that? Not an earthquake, I'm guessing."

He gave me a surprised look. "What makes you say that?"

"W-Well, it doesn't explain the rain going up." I stuttered out. _That, and I already know what it is. Have to play innocent though. The last thing I need is the Oncoming Storm aimed my way._

He grinned and ruffled my short hair—which I'd gotten cut not long after I woke up by a nurse, who was surprisingly willing to trim it into a scruffy two-block cut that looked great with my new curly brown hair.

"You are brilliant, Kris."

I blinked, still rather stunned by the attention the Doctor apparently enjoyed giving me and he ducked behind his curtains to change as Martha came in with her nurse friend and I went to see if I had anything other than the hospital clothing I was in. Thankfully, I found whatever clothes Charlotte had been wearing when she showed up and someone had been kind enough to wash the jeans and grey shirt. I sighed and pulled them on, vaguely hearing Martha return and attempt to calm the panicked patients and her nurse friend as she went to open the windows. The sound of the Doctor's curtains being yanked back surprised me briefly, but I was soon finished and wandered out just in time for the Doctor to grab my hand.

"Kris! Excellent! Want to join us?"

"S-Sure?" I weakly agreed and he grinned as he tugged me along to the patient's lounge.

We headed to the balcony and the Doctor gave me a look.

"You willing to take a look?"

I shrugged. "Why not?"

 _I've already died once and, though not willing to do so again if I can help it, I know there's no danger here._ He smiled again, ruffling my hair a second time and making me scowl, before opening the door and stepping out with Martha and I on his heels.

"We've got air…" Martha breathed out, sounding surprised, though I was more focused on the light buzzing feeling tingling my skin.

 _Weird. It's beautiful, I mean, but… it doesn't feel right._ I looked out at Earth sadly. _My poor family will be devastated…_

"How does that work?" Martha asked and the Doctor stared out curiously.

"Just be glad it does."

Martha took a few moments. "I've got a party tonight. It's my brother's twenty-first. My mother's going to be really… really…"

She didn't finish and the Doctor gave her a worried look.

"You okay?"

"Yeah."

"Sure?"

"Yeah."

"And you, Kris?"

I flinched, but gave him a brief look. "Yeah, I'm fine. It's… amazing and all, but…"

He raised a brow. "But?"

"I dunno. Just feels… wrong." _Like I'm not supposed to be here. God, what am I going to do? Another universe? The Doctor?_ I sighed softly, resting my chin on my arms as the Doctor and Martha chatted about aliens and he formally introduced himself. _Come on, Kris. Now's not the time to feel sorry for yourself. We're moving past this, remember? Can't change what's already happened._ I blinked as a spark of light went over the sky; tuning back into what the Doctor was saying.

"…force-field keeping the air in."

"But if that's like a bubble sealing us in, that means this is the only air we've got. What happens when it runs out?" Martha questioned and I frowned.

"Suffocate."

The Doctor nodded. "Yeah. Everyone in this hospital will just run out of air."

"Why would anyone do that?"

"Heads up." He said, nodding towards a ships flying over the building. "Ask them yourself."

Martha gaped as the rhino-esque aliens stomped out. "Aliens. That's aliens. Real, proper aliens."

"Judoon." The Doctor growled.

"You say that like it's a bad thing." I murmured, _knowing_ it was a bad thing.

"Can be." He mused, lightening his tone. "Come on then. Let's see what they want."

We headed downstairs to peer through some ferns at the troops of Judoon grabbing people and cataloging them; the Doctor looking rather amused by the whole thing despite his earlier tone.

"Oh, look down there. You've got a little shop. I like a little shop. What about you, Kris? You like shops?"

"Not really." I said, seeing him pout. "Little ones tend to get a bit claustrophobic is all. And even the big ones end up a big confusing. I don't care much for crowds."

He seemed to accept that, messing up my hair again and forcing me to try and tame the wild curls for the umpteenth time.

"Never mind that. What are Judoon?" Martha asked.

"They're like police. Well, police for hire. They're more like interplanetary thugs."

"So an army of mercenaries then?" I offered and he nodded.

"More or less."

"And they brought us to the moon?" Martha questioned, still lost.

"Neutral territory. According to galactic law, they've got no jurisdiction over the Earth, and they isolated it. That rain, lightning? That was them, using an H2O scoop."

I raised a brow. "Why aren't there laws against using transportation to remove things from Earth?"

"Well, they've got to be able to press down the law somehow." He offered, though I wasn't entirely convinced of that.

 _And he doesn't sound too sure either._

"What are you on about, galactic law? Where'd you get that from?" Martha questioned, following after the Doctor and I as we shifted to get a better look. "If they're police, are we under arrest? Are we trespassing on the moon or something?"

"No, but I like that. Good thinking." The Doctor complimented. "No, I wish it were that simple. They're making a catalogue. That means they're after something non-human, which is very bad news for me."

"No." I muttered. "Really?"

"Yup." He said popping the 'P' as Martha gapped in shock as well.

"Oh, you're kidding me. Don't be ridiculous." She said, making the Doctor look at her seriously. "Stop looking at me like that."

"Come on then." He whispered, leading the way out before finding the Admin office. "Martha, could you go keep an eye on where the Judoon are at? What level? Don't need them sneaking up on me."

"Sure." She said, heading off and I watched as he used his sonic on the computer in front of him curiously.

"Anything you want me to do?"

He looked at me and blinked, before turning back to what he was doing. "Yeah, actually. I'm curious. You're awfully calm about all this. Why is that?"

I frowned, thinking about it. _Well, I do know what's going to happen and such, but… one would think I'd be a bit more panicked. There's real aliens here. Posing a real threat. So why_ am _I not running around like a chicken with my head cut off?_

"I-I… I don't know." I told him honestly, taking a seat next to him in a chair and looking up at the ceiling. "For one thing, I don't find rhino's very threatening."

He snorted in amusement at that.

"But… I've had a rough time lately." _Died, ended up in a television universe, not to mention an entirely different body._ "I guess nearly dying and being in a coma kind of puts things into a different perspective. The thought of aliens isn't all that surprising anymore and it's not like they're looking for me. I only risk suffocating to death." _Or death by straw, but let's not mention that bit._

The Doctor paused in what he was doing and looked at me with furrowed brows. "You—"

He was cut off as Martha returned, slightly breathless.

"They've reached the third floor." She said, before spotting his sonic. "What's that thing?"

"Sonic screwdriver."

"Well, if you're not going to answer me properly—"

He looked slightly offended. "No, really, it is. It's a screwdriver and it's sonic. Look."

"Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks 'let's make that sonic'?" I scoffed, earning a pout from him. "Needed a bunch of cabinets set up?"

"It doesn't do wood." He pouted and Martha chuckled.

"What else have you got? A laser spanner?"

"I did, but it was stolen by Emily Pankhurst, cheeky woman." He responded and I raised a brow.

"What would she need a laser spanner for?"

I was ignored though as he got frustrated with the computer.

"What's wrong with this computer?! The Judoon must have locked it down. Judoon platoon upon the moon." He muttered more to himself than anyone else. "Because I was just travelling past. I swear, I was just wandering. I wasn't looking for trouble, honestly, I wasn't, but I noticed these plasma coils around the hospital, and that lightning, that's a plasma coil. Been building up for two days now, so I checked in. I thought something was going on inside. It turns out the plasma coils were the Judoon up above."

"But what are they looking for?"

"Something that looks human but isn't."

"Like you, apparently." She smiled.

"Like me, but not me."

"So a fugitive?" I offered and he shrugged.

"Possibly."

"Haven't they got a photo?" Martha asked.

"Well, might be a shape-changer."

"Sounds fun. How are they going to find that?" I questioned. "I mean, how hard would it be to just grab a marker and draw an 'X' on the back of your hand and get away with it?"

"Good point." He mused. "Very good. Never thought of that."

"Criminal psychology degree." I hummed. "It's my job to figure out what criminals think."

"Ooh, clever you." He smiled, but Martha interrupted again.

"Can't you just leave the Judoon to find it?"

"If they declare the hospital guilty of hiding a fugitive, they'll sentence it to execution." He told her, all seriousness once again.

"All of us?"

"Oh, yes. If I can find this thing first—Oh!" He exclaimed, annoyed. "You see, they're thick! Judoon are thick! They are completely thick! They wiped the records. Oh, that's clever."

I raised a brow. "Thick or clever? You've really got to make up your mind."

"Oh hush, you." He chided me.

"What are they looking for?" Martha asked as he ran a hand through his hair.

"I don't know. Say, any patient admitted in the past week with unusual symptoms. Maybe there's a back-up."

"Just keep working." Martha offered. "I'll go ask Mr. Stoker. He might know."

She headed out and I jumped when the Doctor suddenly turned to me.

"You. You had some unusual symptoms _and_ you were admitted within the last week."

I frowned. " _Me_? You honestly think they're after me? Don't be stupid. I don't know the first thing about intergalactic laws or whatever. I'm human!"

"Well, how do I know that? You said so yourself, how hard would it be to just pretend you've already been catalogued?" He argued and I grabbed his hand with the sonic and pointed it at me.

"Go on then. Scan me. Use your sonic to scan me and _prove_ to you that I had nothing to do with this. Because I'm not about to let you waste time arguing with me when the alien could be out there somewhere getting away."

He stared at me for a bit, before suddenly grinning. "Alrighty then. I believe you. You seem honest enough."

I gave him a strange look as he went back to fighting with the computer. "That's it? You give in that easily?"

"Yup. After all…" He looked at me again, expression solemn. "…no alien would look at Earth with such a sad expression."

I went quiet at that, sitting in silence as he worked before he suddenly grinned.

"Ah-ha! Got it! Come on, Kris. Let's go!"

He grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the room; the two of us very nearly crashing into Martha.

"I've restored the back-up!" The Doctor said happily, the same time Martha quickly shouted.

"I found her."

"You did what?"

We spotted the Slabs and the Doctor quickly grabbed Martha's hand as well as mine and hurried us through the halls. Judoon entered the stairwell we'd run into then and we quickly turned and went into another hallway towards Radiology. The Doctor sonicked the door behind us to keep the Slab at bay and shoved Martha and I behind the glass.

"When I say 'now' press the button."

"But I don't know which one!"

"Then find out!"

The Doctor worked on the x-ray machine as Martha grabbed a manual from off the shelf. The Slab soon broke through the door though and the Doctor called out, but Martha was still panicking.

"I said, now!" The Doctor repeated and I slammed a hand down on the yellow button myself.

The Slab fell to the ground and I released the button with a sigh of relief.

"What did you do?" Martha asked.

"Increased the radiation by five thousand percent. Killed him dead."

I didn't like the sound of that, but reminded myself that the Slab was a basic slave drone and probably had no consciousness at all. _Besides, who am I to judge him for this? Technically, Mr. Stoker's death is partially my fault._ I pushed the depressing through from my mind and looked over to find the Doctor hopping around.

"Out, out, out, out. Ah, ah, ah, ah! It is, it is, it is, it is hot. Hold on." He grabbed his shoe and tossed it into the bin with a grin. "Done."

"You're completely mad." Martha said as I too came out from behind the glass.

"You're right. I look daft with one shoe." He said, taking the other and tossing it as well. "Barefoot on the moon."

His teeth snapped together as Martha shook her head and I smiled a bit; her going over to check on the Slab.

"So what is that thing? And where's it from? The planet Zovirax?" She joked.

"It's just a Slab. They're called Slabs. Basic slave drones. See?" He knelt down and grabbed the arm. "Solid leather all the way through. Someone has got one hell of a fetish."

"Slave drone." I spoke up, catching his attention as he stood. "So it doesn't have a… conscious or anything? You didn't _actually_ kill someone?"

He gave me a soft smile. "No, course not. It's like short circuiting a toaster. Only knows how to make toast; or in this case, follow orders. I just turned it off."

I nodded, relieved as Martha spoke and he discovered his fried sonic screwdriver.

"But it was that woman, Miss Finnegan. It was working for her, just like a servant."

"My sonic screwdriver." The Doctor said quietly in shocked disbelief.

"She was one of the patients, but—"

"Oh, no. My sonic screwdriver…"

"—she had a straw like some kind of vampire."

"I love my sonic screwdriver."

" _Doctor_?" She scolded him and he tossed the sonic over his shoulder, where I caught it before it could hit me upside the head.

"Sorry." He apologized. "You called me Doctor."

"Anyway?" She pressed, despite the smile on his face from that. "Miss Finnegan is the alien. She was drinking Mr. Stoker's blood."

"Funny time to take a snack. You'd think she'd be hiding."

"But I thought she was a shape changer?" I questioned, trying to speed things up a bit and he looked at me with his mouth hanging open.

"Yes. That's it! Shape-changer. _Internal_ shape-changer. She wasn't drinking blood; she was assimilating it! If she can assimilate Mister Stoker's blood, mimic the biology, she'll register as human. We've got to find her and show the Judoon. Come on!"

 _Running. Always with the running with him._ I mentally complained as I called out to him while we ran.

"W-Wait! How are we supposed to explain that she's an internal shape-changer?! What if she's already been catalogued as human?! Better yet, you're alien too! You can't just go waltzing up to them to explain!"

"Excellent observations, Kris!" He called back. "I'm sure I'll figure something out. Here!"

We slid behind a water cooler as another Slab walked by.

"That's the thing about Slabs. They always travel in pairs."

"Well, what about you?" Martha questioned.

"'What about me' what?" He hummed, avoiding eye contact.

"Haven't you got back-up? You must have a partner or something. You can't just have Charlotte."

" _Kris_." I pressed, but was ignored.

"Oh, humans. We're stuck on the moon, running out of air, with Judoon and a bloodsucking criminal, and you're asking personal questions?" He complained. "And Kris isn't my partner. I just brought her along. Come on."

I felt something in me ache at his blunt words. _I know we're not partners or anything, but… a tagalong? Is that all? I mean, I should be honored he's even letting me do that, but... it still hurts._

"I like that. 'Humans'. I'm still not convinced you're an alien." Martha commented just as we rounded the corner and the Doctor was scanned.

"Non-human." The Judoon announced, stunning Martha.

"Oh my God, you really are."

I hadn't been paying attention though, and missed the Judoon scanning me as well.

"Unidentifiable species. Further scanning required."

"W-What?!" I screeched out in shock as the Doctor grabbed my arm.

"And again!"

We bolted down the hall, just missing the Judoon shooting at us. We hurried up the stairs then and the Doctor locked the door behind us as we walked quickly down the hall where people were slowly succumbing to the lack of oxygen.

"They've done this floor." The Doctor told us. "Come on. The Judoon are logical and just a little bit thick. They won't go back to check a floor they've checked already. If we're lucky."

"Doctor." I called out, making him double back when he saw Martha had crouched beside her friend giving oxygen to a patient.

"We're gonna run out." The woman explained to Martha about the air and the Doctor looked at us both.

"How are you two feeling?"

"I'm running on adrenaline." Martha smiled and he did a bit too.

"Welcome to my world." He commented, before glancing at me as I panted a bit. "And you, Kris?"

"B-Been better." I told him shakily, a painful stitch in my side from the running that made me wish Charlotte was fit like my previous self. _Though what did the Judoon mean, 'unidentifiable species'? W-Was it because I'm not from this universe? No doubt the Doctor will question me on it later too. God, what am I going to tell him?_

"What about the Judoon?" Martha asked then.

"Nah, great big lung preserves. It won't slow them down. Where's Mr. Stoker's office?"

"It's this way." Martha replied, standing to lead the way round the corner.

I paused though. "I'll, um, just wait here. In case the Judoon or that Slab decide to show up."

"Good idea." The Doctor said, him and Martha entering the room as I leaned up against the wall and tried to breathe in the quickly thinning air.

 _I mostly don't want to see Mr. Stoker. It's bad enough I could have saved him, but I know I can't do anything. Even saving one small life could cause an unfathomable amount of consequences. And if the Doctor finds out that I've been doing this… I don't even want to think what he'll do. As it is, I'm just a tagalong. There's nothing to stop him from becoming the Oncoming Storm against me. It's bad enough that I've been much too calm about things. He'll find out sooner or later, if I'm not careful._

"Think, think, think." The Doctor muttered as he and Martha stepped back out of the office. "If I was a plasmavore surrounded by police, what could I do? Any ideas, Kris? You're the criminal expert."

"Hm? O-Oh, um… I'm no expert on aliens, but I suppose any criminal would attempt to find a way to escape. And since we're on the moon, the only transportation off is the Judoon ships."

"Ah! Yes! Excellent, Kris!" He grinned, ruffling my hair once more, much to my annoyance.

 _This is going to become a thing, isn't it?_

"She's as clever as me. Almost." He hummed upon catching sight of the MRI room just as the Judoon could be heard heading our way. "Martha, stay here. I need time. You've got to hold them up."

"How do I do that? And what about her?" Martha asked.

"Kris has to come with me because they've already scanned her as something unidentifiable. They would have to do a longer scan and, while I need time, too much time wouldn't be a good thing either. Now, just forgive me for this. It could save a thousand lives. It means nothing. Honestly, nothing." He said, grabbing her and kissing her.

It was weird though. I remembered it lasting longer in the show, but he just did a quick peck before grabbing my hand and rushing towards the MRI room.

"Right, now you listen to me, Kris. I need you to just stay hidden." He told me once we reached the room and were standing outside as lights flashed from within. "I don't know why the scan the Judoon did on you said what they did and I _will_ find out sooner or later, but right now, I need you safe. Don't come in under any circumstances. Got it?"

"But—"

"No." He cut me off, grabbing my face and looking at me seriously. "I mean it. Don't. Promise me you won't."

I hesitated, but he wasn't going to give in and I knew that, so I bowed my head. "Promise."

"Good." He said, ruffling my hair and grinning at me. "Wish me luck."

And with that, he ducked inside the room as I pulled my hand out from behind my back to reveal crossed fingers.

"Idiot. Like I'm just going to let you go off and die."

* * *

The Doctor walked into the MRI room and quickly got Ms. Finnegan's attention by playing the shocked innocent bystander.

"Have you seen them? There are these things. These great big space rhino things. I mean, rhinos from space. And we're on the moon! Great big space rhinos with guns on the moon. And I only came in for my bunions, look." He lifted up his foot. "I mean, all fixed now. Perfectly good treatment. The nurses were lovely. I said to my wife, I said I'd recommend this place to anyone, but then we end up on the moon. And did I mention the rhinos?"

"Hold him."

The remaining Slab came out and grabbed him, giving her time to return to what she was doing.

"Uh, right, um… that big machine thing. Is it supposed to be making that noise?"

She waved him off. "You wouldn't understand."

"But isn't that a magnetic resonance image thing? Like a ginormous sort of magnet? I did magnetics GCSE. Well, I failed, but all the same."

She decided to humor him. "The magnetic setting now increased to fifty thousand Tesla."

"Ooh, that's a bit strong, isn't it?"

"It'll send out a magnetic pulse that'll fry the brain stems of every living thing within two hundred and fifty thousand miles. Except for me, safe in this room." She smiled.

"But uh, hold on, hold on. I did geography GCSE. I passed that one. Doesn't that distance include the Earth?"

"Only the side facing the moon. The other half will survive. Call it my little gift."

"I'm sorry, you'll have to excuse me, I'm a little bit out of my depth. I've spent the past fifteen years working as a postman. Hence the bunions. Why would you do that?"

"With everyone dead, the Judoon ships will be mine, to make my escape."

 _Point one for Kris then. Right on the dot with that one._ He mused. "No, that's weird. You're talking like you're some sort of an alien."

"Quite so."

"No!"

"Oh, yes."

"You're joshing me."

"I am not." She insisted.

"I'm talking to an alien? In a hospital? What? Has this place got an ET department?"

She ignored his rambling. "It's the perfect hiding place. Blood banks downstairs for a midnight feast, and all this equipment ready to arm myself with should the police come looking."

"So, those rhinos, they're looking for you?"

"Yes. But I'm hidden." She said, showing him her already marked hand.

"Right. Maybe that's why they're increasing their scans."

"They're doing what?" She questioned, suddenly worried.

"Hm, ah big chief rhino boy. Ah, he said, 'No sign of a non-human. We must increase our scans up to setting two'?"

"Then I must assimilate again."

"What does that mean?" The Doctor questioned innocently.

"I must appear human."

"Well, you're welcome to come home and meet the wife. She'd be honored. We can have cake." He smiled as she pulled out her straw from her purse.

"Why should I have cake? I've got my little straw."

"Oh, that's nice. Milkshake? Uh, I like banana."

"You're quite the funny man. And yet, I think, laughing on purpose at the darkness. I think it's time you found some peace. Steady him!"

The Slab forced the Doctor onto his knees, but just then the door opened.

"Oi! Have you lot seen the rhinos outside? Crazy, right?" Kris said, stepping into the room as Ms. Finnegan scowled.

"I don't have time for this. Grab her!"

The Slab grabbed her arm and yanked her down to her knees beside the Doctor as well, who hissed angrily at her.

"What are you doing?!"

"Buying you some more time." She hissed back. "It takes a while to get here from where you left Martha and those Judoon walk slow."

"You're going to get yourself killed!"

"Oh, and you aren't?"

He went to retaliate, but Ms. Finnegan cleared her throat and gave them both annoyed looks.

"You've interrupted me at a bad time, girly."

"Pft, I'm hardly girly." Kris scoffed.

"Nevertheless, I think I'll start with you. Females always tend to taste better." She smirked and the Doctor quickly panicked as the Slab tightened its grip on them both.

"No! No, take me!"

"Bit late for that, deary." She hummed, brushing her fingers over Kris's neck and jabbing the straw in.

Kris gave him a slightly panicked look as Ms. Finnegan started to drink, but after a moment, she started to slowly grow weary and the Doctor struggled to think of something. A rash thought came to mind and, with the Slab trying to hold Kris _and_ him, he took a chance. He swung his foot out, wincing when he accidently hit Kris on the shoulder, but managed to dislodge the straw and make Ms. Finnegan furious.

"You idiot! Now look what you've done!" She shouted at him as the Slab dropped Kris to the ground.

 _And hopefully she's alright. I still can't believe she did that! What was she thinking?!_

"If you want me to drink you dry, then so be it." Ms. Finnegan snapped as the Slab got a better hold on him and she drank his blood as well.

She didn't get very far though before the Judoon stepped in and she released him.

"Now look at what you've done." She lightly scolded the Judoon as she tucked her straw away in her purse. "This poor woman died of fright and he's looking a bit pale himself."

"Scan her." The Judoon demanded and Kris was scanned as the Doctor rushed over to her side. "Confirmation. Deceased."

"No, no, no, no." The Doctor muttered, pressing his fingers to Kris's neck in the hopes of finding a pulse as Martha tried to push through.

"No, let me see her."

"Stop. Case closed." The Judoon announced, having assumed Kris to have been the alien they were after with her scan having come up unidentifiable.

"Oh, don't be stupid." The Doctor snapped harshly. "Martha! Scanner!"

Martha's eyes widened and she grabbed the scanner from the Judoon and aimed it at Ms. Finnegan.

"Oh, I don't mind. Scan all you like."

"Non-human." The Judoon announced and her eyes widened.

"But… What?"

"Confirm analysis."

"Oh, but it's a mistake, surely. I'm human. I'm as human as they come." She insisted as Martha glared at the woman.

"She gave her life so they'd find you."

"Confirm." The Judoon announced then. "Plasmavore, charged with the crime of murdering the child princess of Patrival Regency Nine."

"Well, she deserved it!" Ms. Finnegan snapped angrily. "Those pink cheeks and those blonde curls and that simpering voice. She was _begging_ for the bite of a plasmavore!"

"Then you confess?"

"Confess? I'm proud of it!" She chortled. "Slab, stop them!"

The Slab stepped forward, but the Judoon easily dispatched it.

"Verdict, guilty. Sentence, execution."

Ms. Finnegan didn't care though, plugging in the MRI machine to reveal it overloading.

"Enjoy your victory, Judoon, because you're going to burn with me. Burn in hell!"

She too, was taken care of then and the Judoon withdrew as Martha hurried to the Doctor's side where he was doing CPR on Kris.

"Come on, Kris. Come on. Don't give up yet." He growled.

"Doctor… what about the… scanner?" Martha breathed out, growing short on breath after having ran after the Judoon to find the Doctor.

He glanced over his shoulder, not stopping the chest compressions. "And my sonic is fried… the plug… Martha, unplug it! Big red one!"

She nodded and crawled over on her hands and knees, managing to unplug the device before collapsing and the Doctor cursed under his breath as he realized why Kris wasn't waking up. _Air. There's not enough air._ _Even if I do resuscitate her, she can't breathe._ He grunted, hoisting her unconscious body into his arms and managing to pull Martha over his back before finding a window and lying Martha on a bed and Kris on the ground.

"Come on, come on, come on, please. Come on, Judoon. Reverse it." He muttered, before rain began to splatter on the window and he grinned. "It's raining, Marth, Kris. It's raining on the moon. But we're not done yet."

He knelt back down to Kris's side, checking again for a pulse before starting up CPR once more. With the hope that with the hospital back on Earth and air flooding the building she would hopefully come to.

"Come on, Kris. Don't give up. Not again." He muttered, glancing briefly at her bandaged wrists. "I'll take you away from here. We'll travel and see amazing things. Aliens and planets and history in the making. I won't let them lock you up in some psychiatric ward. But you've got to try."

He pressed his lips to hers, forcing yet another lung full of air into her, and suddenly, she coughed. He smiled in relief as she choked and hacked, breathing in air greedily before opening her eyes.

"D-Doc… tor?"

"Hey, there." He said, but her eyes slid shut and after a brief moment of panic and checking her pulse, the Doctor relaxed.

 _Just passed out. She'll probably need a blood transfusion too. I don't know how much blood that plasmavore took, but for her to go into cardiac arrest, I'll have to make sure she gets properly treated._ _And what better place than the Tardis?_ He grinned, picking her up and carrying her out, sneaking past the press and police and into his ship. _Oh, won't she be surprised._

* * *

I woke up with a startled gasp, sitting up abruptly and shaking. I'd remembered, re _lived_ that accident. The accident that killed me and dropped me off in this mess. I felt sick to my stomach as I remembered the sounds of the car crushing, the bones snapping, my own choking gasps. _No. Stop it. D-Don't think about it_. I closed my eyes and buried my head in my hands with a shudder, trying to calm my rapidly beating heart before opening my eyes and looking around in confusion. _A hospital? T-That doesn't seem right. It doesn't look like Royal Hope, so where…_ I felt hope swell up in my chest. _I-I'm alive? This is after the accident and I'm alive?_ My hope shattered though when I looked down at myself and saw the same hands as before, the same slim fingers, the bandages on my wrists, the clothes that Charlotte wore when she tried to end her life. And suddenly, tears slipped down my cheeks, dripping off my jaw and landed on my hands as they quivered along with my lips and I let out a bitter chuckle.

"W-Why get my hopes up? I-I died. Why can't I just accept that? W-W-Why can't I-I just…"

A choked sob escaped me and I brought the back of my hand up to my mouth to stifle them, just in time for the Doctor to walk in.

"Kris! You're awa—" He cut himself off upon seeing my tears as I curled up into a ball on the bed. "Kris? Kris, what's wrong? If it's about what happened at the hospital, it's fine! Really! You're safe."

He sat on the bed and was hesitant about reaching for me, his hand hovering a few inches away as I tried to get a hold of myself.

"'m sorry." I managed between sobs. "I-I'm sorry."

"H-Hey, now. There's nothing to apologize for." He comforted, taking my hand and giving it a squeeze. "It's a normal reaction."

I shook my head. "I-It's not that. It's not what happened. I-It's stupid. No one would believe me. N-No one ever does."

He frowned. "Now, that's not true. I reckon I'd believe a lot more than most people."

"N-No. I can't. I-I can't tell anyone." I pressed, silently cursing my big mouth.

"Well, I won't force you." He begrudgingly replied. "But I'm here to listen, when you're ready. I swear, I won't make fun of you or anything, if that's what you're worried about."

"'m sorry." I repeated again, honestly wishing I could tell him and not end up having him get angry or upset with me over the whole 'different universe where this is a television show' thing.

"That's alright. Really. And you were sort of out of it for a while, so I can understand some of your confusion. Actually, there's some things I want to talk to you about, once you've calmed down a bit."

"I-It's fine. Go ahead." I insisted, wiping my face and taking a deep shuddering breath.

He waited a bit more, handing me a handkerchief that I gratefully took, before giving me a frown.

"That was very reckless, what you did." He scolded me and I winced. "You were _dead_ for almost two minutes, Kris! If I hadn't been conscious, then you would have _stayed_ dead! Does that mean anything to you?"

"Sorry." I muttered quietly. An angry Time Lord was not something I wanted to personally experience. "I just… You were the first person who saw me. _Me_ , me. Not Charlotte or some psychotic person. So I… I didn't want you to get hurt. I—Kris—doesn't really… exist here, so… no one would really miss—"

"I would." He snapped, making me cringe once more; not only at his words, but the one's I'd just spoken.

 _Do I… Do I really believe that?..._ I mentally felt horrible as I realized that, yeah. I did believe that. I had nothing here. No family, no friends, no job or school or even a home. I had nothing here that was mine. Even the clothes I was wearing were Charlotte's. So if I had died again, some part of me hoped that I'd wake up back home. Back in my body. _Safe_.

"I mean it, Kris." The Doctor pressed, the sharp tone gone from his voice as he made me look right at him. "I would miss you. Because I don't know Charlotte. I've never met Charlotte. I only know you. And if you were gone, I would mourn for you. I would mourn for Kris Lewis. The woman who joked and ran with a crazy Doctor in a hospital full of Judoon, and faced a plasmavore with more idiotic courage than any human. And I would hate for you to just throw your life away because you can't see that someone cares for you. Right here." He smiled, patting my leg under the covers of the bed. "Now then. Enough moping. How would you like to see my ship?"

I stared in shock. "Y-Your ship?"

He nodded, apparently pleased with my reaction. Though I knew what the Tardis was, it was the fact that he was inviting me to join him that was more of a shock to me. _W-What did I do? The most I did was risk my life to help him and—Dear God. That was it, wasn't it? I've done it now. I caught the Doctor's attention._

"You're in it right now, actually."

As if I couldn't be in more shock, he threw that at me and I realized how stupid I was. _How did I not recognize this as the med bay?! I don't even know what half the stuff in here is!_

"Y-You're kidding."

"Nope! And I will gladly give you a tour, if you want. Some new clothes too. I'm sure you'd like something _yours_."

I let out a shuddering breath, before grinning; the first full grin since I'd shown up in this body. "Thank you."

"W-Well, if you smile like that every time I offer up some clothes, I might just have to give you a room too." He said with a stutter, before smiling once more and helping me up.

My legs were a little shaky at first, but quick to remember their purpose as the Doctor tugged me to the door.

"Ah! That's right, I forgot to mention." He said, pausing and looking at me sheepishly. "You were sort of out of it for a while there, but I invited Martha on board as well. Just for a trip, though. You're welcome to stay longer, if you want. I won't make you."

"Doctor." I interrupted, cutting off his nervous rambling. "I have _nothing_. You offering up your ship—your home—to me is more than I could ever ask for and, if you'll have me, I'll be glad to keep you company."

He looked relieved, which was surprising. This younger Tenth had just recently lost Rose and was still hesitant about Martha joining, yet he appeared to desperately _want_ me to stay. I wasn't sure what the reasons behind the offer were, but I wasn't about to argue a place to stay.

"Come on then." He smiled, tugging me along behind him as we left the med bay and headed down the halls with him opening doors every once in a while. "This is the kitchen, here's the library—"

I stopped there, gaping in shock at the space that seemed to go on forever, earning a chuckle from the Doctor before he pulled me away from the sight.

"You'll have plenty of time to explore that later. Up next is the wardrobe, where you will find anything and everything cloth-like that one might desire. And you are welcome to take your pick, Kris." He smiled, leading me into the expansive closet and pointing to a door. "That's the changing room on the right and I'll wait here until you've finished."

I turned to him and couldn't resist the urge to hug him, pulling away before either he nor I could react.

"Thank you." I said sincerely, face pink in embarrassment as I hurried over to see what I could find to wear.

* * *

The Doctor waited patiently, but his mind ran rampant about Kris. It was odd. He'd never taken to a companion as quickly as her before, however he couldn't help but be curious. Her situation was different and he silently wondered if she had some personality issue that made her believe she was a completely different person. He assumed she just had a terrible experience as Charlotte and upon attempting to take her life, literally threw away anything pertaining to that person and became someone entirely new. It was possible, but there was still a part of him that didn't care for that theory. For one thing, the Judoon scanned her and somehow ended up with 'unidentifiable species'. She was human, as far as he could tell. Even his scans had agreed. That didn't stop his worry though.

She was hiding something from him and, though he didn't press her for answers before, he could only hope that she'd speak with him about whatever it was. He'd have to keep an eye on her however. If not for that, then for her suicidal tendencies. The way she'd spoken earlier, about her near fatal experience with the plasmavore, had him concerned. No one should have that sort of mindset and he hoped that by giving her someone to rely on and something to call her own—even just clothes and a place on the Tardis—that he might keep her around long enough to give her something to live for. And what could do that better than a few trips through time and space?

The changing room door opened then and he pushed himself from off the wall as Kris walked out and pulled the deep red scarf around her neck closer. He smiled at her relaxed posture that the new set of clothes brought her, and the fact that they were more than appropriate for adventure. Slim fit jeans, instead of those skinny type that most women wore now, which could become problematic when something needed to be put into a pocket. _In fact, I think those might be_ men's _skinny jeans, not slim jeans. Huh._ He mused, though didn't comment on it. But couple that with a nice black and white printed t-shirt of half the skeletal system, the scarf, and a dark coat and boots, and she looked about ready to face anything.

"Better?" He commented and she nodded.

"Much. And thanks again, for all this."

"Course! Can't have you going around feeling uncomfortable. Though you're taking the whole 'spaceship' and 'traveling with an alien' thing pretty well."

"Mm." She hummed, following him as he led the way back through the halls. "I mean, it's surprising, but I woke up to alien rhinos, traveling to the moon, and a blood sucking plasmavore. A big ship and human-looking alien aren't that big of a stretch."

"Wait until you see the outside." He smirked, already eager to get her back to the control room to head on their first adventure and show her the blue box.

"Does it have a name?"

"Huh?" He blinked in confusion.

"The ship." She corrected. "Like the S.S. Doctor or something."

He snorted. "No. Nothing like that. I just call her the Tardis."

"Tardis." Kris repeated, getting a taste for the foreign word.

"Yup. Stands for Time and Relative Dimensions in Space."

"So it travels in space _and_ time?"

He rounded on her quickly, stunned. "H-How did you figure that out?"

She looked a bit surprised herself. "I-It's… It's in the name, isn't it? Time and relative dimensions?"

He opened his mouth, but quickly closed it, before opening it again. "You're the first person to catch that."

"Seriously?"

He nodded, giving her another curious look before returning their walk. "Takes a bit of fun out of it."

"Sorry. Just thought it was a bit obvious."

"Nah, that's alright. I honestly don't know how anyone's missed it. Even I sort of skipped over what I was saying."

"How's it do it?"

"What?"

"Travel in time and space. I mean, it doesn't exactly run on rocket fuel, does it?"

"Oh, no. Nothing like that. That stuff is disgusting." He said with a wrinkle of his nose. "No, she's much more complicated. It'd be hard to explain. I'll tell you what though, she's got a whole sun burning up in the center of her." He admitted and she looked at him in surprise.

"A sun? Like Sol? Like… an _entire_ star?"

"Yup." He smiled, pleased that he was impressing her. "An entire star trapped at one moment in time just before it would turn into a black hole. The energy from it gives this ship its power. I'd show it to you, but it would fry us up in a matter of minutes."

"Well, I don't want that." She joked as they entered the console room and her jaw dropped. "W-Whoa…"

"Welcome, to the console room." The Doctor grinned, leading her up the stairs to where Martha quickly greeted her.

"How are you feeling then, Charlotte? Any dizziness? Nausea?"

"It's _Kris_." Kris insisted and Martha shook her head.

"Right. Sorry."

Kris brushed her off and continued to look around, touching one of the coral pillars and moving to the console as the Doctor flipped some switches and prepared to send them off. "And I'm fine. A small headache, but that's it. What's this button do?"

"That's the radio." The Doctor responded. "And don't touch anything. You could send us hurtling into space."

"Like I'm stupid enough to touch the controls of a _space ship_." She scoffed sarcastically. "Where are we going then, Mr. Martian?"

He frowned. "I'm a Time Lord. Not a… a Martian."

"And I'm the Queen of England." She snorted. "But alright. I'll roll with it. Now answer the question, _Time Lord_."

He turned to her poking her in the forehead lightly as she smirked. "You've gotten sassier. Why are you sassy?"

"Because it bothers you." She hummed, pointing to another button. "And this one?"

"Mustard. But if you're going to be sassy, I might just have to be sassy back."

"Love to see that."

Martha cleared her throat then, raising a brow at the two. "Where _are_ we going, if I might ask?"

The Doctor shrugged then, grinning. "Don't know. I've set it to random. Hold on tight!"


	2. Witches and Words

"But _how_ do you travel in time? What makes it go?" Martha called out over the noise of the Tardis trying to land and the squeaking of whatever crank the Doctor was turning; myself hanging on for dear life.

The ride was twice as bumpy as you'd think.

"Oh, let's take the fun and mystery out of everything. Martha, you're just like Kris and neither of you want to know. It just does. Hold on tight."

He was stretched all the way across the console, holding down a lever with his foot, his right hand on another lever and his left reaching for a final one, before the ship landed; throwing Martha off the console and yanking my arm rather harshly in the attempt to do the same to me. The Doctor even fumbled for a bit and once the ship settled, I released my white-knuckle death grip to rub at my shoulder, _which_ —I'd just noticed—ached already, for some reason.

"Blimey. Do you have to pass a test to fly this thing?"

I winced as I massaged my bruised appendage. "Probably failed it."

"I did, in fact." He said, sounding pleased. "Now, make the most of it. I promised you one trip, and one trip only." He said, speaking more to Martha than me, though I kept my mouth shut.

 _Probably just wants to keep us friendly and adding in the fact that I might be staying while she leaves would definitely put us at each other's throats._

"Outside this door, brave new world."

"Where are we?" Martha questioned, taking her coat from him as he grabbed my hand and tugged me to the door; his own coat swiftly put on.

"Take a look. After you."

He didn't look as he opened the door, allowing Martha out before grinning at me and letting me go out next.

"Oh, you're kidding me." Martha breathed out at the Elizabethan England setting.

Horses whinnied somewhere nearby and the whole place smelled like dirt, sweat, and sewer, but that hardly deterred us from the sight of it.

"You are so kidding me. Oh, my God, we did it. We travelled in time. Where are we? No, sorry. I got to get used to this whole new language. _When_ are we?"

"Mind out." The Doctor said, tugging the two of us away from where a women was throwing out her family's excrements from an upper story window.

"Gardez l'eau!"

The Doctor stared at the foul smelling concoction ahead of us with a grimace. "Somewhere before the invention of the toilet. Sorry about that."

"I've seen worse. I've worked the late night shift A+E." Martha said, but I missed him turning to me as I was too busy gaping at the brilliantness of the blue box behind me.

"How do you fit all of it inside?" I breathed out, drawing his attention to me. "Do we get shrunk going in or something?"

He opened his mouth, only to close it, blinking. "Never heard that before, but um, no. No shrinking. It's just bigger on the inside. A pocket universe, really."

"Cool." I murmured and the Doctor smiled, ruffling my hair and making me frown at him before Martha tugged on his coat.

"Can we move around and stuff?"

"Of course we can. Why do you ask?" He questioned, confused.

"It's like in the films. You step on a butterfly, you change the future of the human race."

"How is stepping on a butterfly going to change a major historical event?" I questioned. _Though I get what she's trying to say._

The Doctor nodded in agreement. "Tell you what then, don't step on any butterflies. What have butterflies ever done to you?"

Martha tried to correct herself as we began walking down the road. "What if… I don't know… What if I kill my grandfather?"

"Are you planning to?" The Doctor asked.

"No."

"Well, then." He concluded and she smiled.

"And this is London?"

"I think so. 'Round about, um, hm, 1599."

"Oh, but hold on. Am I alright? I'm not going to get carted off as a slave, am I?"

I frowned curiously. "I thought slaves weren't really a thing until later."

"Oh, I don't know." Martha complained, not seeming to like my piping in, apparently. "But I'm not exactly white, in case you haven't noticed."

"I'm not even human." The Doctor countered, draping an arm over my shoulders as a couple of black woman moved in front of us chatting happily. "Just walk about like you own the place. Works for me. Besides, you'd be surprised. Elizabethan England, not so different from your time. Look over there. They've got recycling." He gestured to a man shoveling manure. "Water cooler moment."

And again, a couple of men talking by a water barrel before his attention was drawn to a preacher nearby.

"And the world will be consumed by flame!" The man called out and the Doctor nodded towards him.

"Global warming. Oh, yes. And entertainment."

"You don't mean…" I muttered and he winked.

"Popular entertainment for the masses. If I'm right, we're just down the river by Southwark, right next to…" He picked up his pace, making us jog down to the next block where a large building loomed not too far away. "Oh, yes! The Globe Theater! Brand new. Just opened. Though, strictly speaking, it's not a globe. It's a tetradecagon. Fourteen sides. Containing the man himself."

"Whoa, you don't mean… Is Shakespeare in there?" Martha questioned.

"Oh, yes. Ms. Jones, Kris, will you both accompany me to the theatre?" He asked us, holding out the crooks of his arms.

"Mr. Smith, I will." Martha cooed, quickly wrapping herself around his arm as I rolled my eyes and started walking instead.

"Well, come on then. I want good seats. Or, standing room, I guess."

The Doctor chuckled, catching up with me—Martha still on his arm—and he grabbed my hand in his and gave it a squeeze. "When you get home, you can tell everyone you've seen Shakespeare." He teased Martha, who laughed.

"Then I could get sectioned."

"What about you then, Kris? You a fan of Shakespeare?"

"I like 'Hamlet' and 'King Lear', if that's what you're asking. The old language is a bit hard to work with though, so I'm not a huge fan of his. Sorry." I admitted with an apology attached to the end since I knew he was a pretty big fan.

"It's fine. Try reading some of his things in the Tardis. That might help with the language barrier." He offered and I raised a brow before he explained. "Ah, right, see the Tardis has a language matrix that is capable of adjusting our speech so that those who hear us think we're speaking their language, just as we will hear them speaking in ours. Neat, isn't it?"

"Kind of takes some of the fun out of traveling to someplace new." I said instead. "Learning the language is a part of the travel, isn't it?"

He sighed. "Yes, I suppose."

I rubbed the back of my neck, seeing that I'd upset him with that. "I-It's nice to just go though, without having to worry about it. No getting lost and being unable to ask for directions or look at a menu and have to go by the pictures, anyway. So that's a plus. I just think it'd be interesting to show up someplace you didn't know, learn the language as you go and just… get lost in the culture sometimes, is all."

"No, you're right. That would be nice." He nodded, smiling in reassurance at me as I relaxed slightly.

 _I'm trying too hard to please him now. God, this crush of mine in definitely going to be a problem._ I thought silently before we reached the Globe and prepared to watch a true Shakespeare play.

* * *

"That's amazing! Just amazing!" Martha said over the cheer of the crowd and the Doctor grinned, glancing over at Kris, who was clapping happily as well. "It's worth putting up with the smell. And those are men dressed as women, yeah?"

"London never changes." The Doctor commented.

"Where's Shakespeare? I want to see Shakespeare. Author! Author!" She chanted, before pausing. "Do people shout that? Do they shout 'author'?"

A man beside her started to shout the same and the Doctor shrugged with a grin.

"Well, they do now."

Martha smiled as well, pleased at what she'd started, but a subtle bump to his side sent his gaze back to Kris, who quickly apologized.

"Sorry."

 _Ah, that's right. She doesn't do well with crowds._ The Doctor remembered. _She's doing well to put up with it though._ He reached over and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, tugging her into his side and making her look up at him as he grinned down at her and she relaxed slightly. The crowd grew louder then as Shakespeare walked out and blew kisses to everyone and the Doctor gave Kris a squeeze as Martha grew just as excited beside him.

"He's a bit different from his portraits." She commented.

"Genius. He's a genius. _The_ genius." The Doctor said, not seeing that Kris had her gaze—not on the author—but on one of the upper boxes on their right. "The most human human there's ever been. Now we're going to hear him speak. Always he chooses the best words. New, beautiful, brilliant words."

"Ah, shut your big fat mouths!" Shakespeare called out to the audience, making the Doctor's grin falter.

"Oh well."

"You should never meet your heroes." Martha muttered as well.

"I think he's just playing to the audience." Kris piped in, making the Doctor look to her. "I mean, his plays are brilliant, so he's exactly as you picture him, except he's not exactly getting the most brilliant of people to watch his plays. If he just starts spouting out amazingly graceful words, half the people here might not come back because they won't get it."

"Good point."

"That, and anyone can sound smart on paper. It's just easier to get thoughts down the way you want them to that way, I think." She finished and the Doctor hummed, pocketing that for thought as Shakespeare called out to the crowd.

"You've got excellent taste. I'll give you that." He smiled, before pointing out a man. "Oh, that's a wig."

The crowd laughed as he went on.

"I know what you're all saying. _Love's Labor's Lost_ , that's a funny ending, isn't it? It just stops. Will the boys get the girls? Well, don't get your hose in a tangle, you'll find out soon. Yeah, yeah. All in good time. You don't rush a genius." He stood stiffly then, calling out once more as he jolted up from a bow, though looking a bit unnatural in his movements. "When? Tomorrow night. The premiere of my brand new play. A sequel, no less, and I call it _Loves Labor's Won_."

Martha was clapping away, but the Doctor's face was stony in seriousness. He noticed Kris wasn't looking too happy at what Shakespeare had said either and was silently glad she'd caught on to something being wrong. _Smarter than I thought. I'll give her that._

* * *

I felt anxious as we approached the inn where Shakespeare was staying. I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do, really. I was concerned over the maid's death as well as Shakespeare's boss. _But what can I do? I'm only human and even if I did find a way to stop them, she'll just try again, won't she? Maybe not with the maid, but with his boss, yes. I'm pretty convinced this is real, despite not wanting it to be, but these people… am I really going to act like I'm God and can chose who dies and who doesn't? But if I don't at least try, then… then can I even consider myself a good person? A person who can stand at the Doctor's side? If he found out I knew and didn't do anything… And even if he doesn't find out, I still have to live with the guilt. The guilt of knowing I did nothing, or that I did do_ something _only for it to have irreversible consequences. Can I handle that? The death of two innocent people on my shoulders?_

"Kris, hurry up!" The Doctor called, and I nodded, hurrying after him and Martha as they entered the inn with me right behind.

 _I'll have to. He'll die either way and her line ends here. If she lives, there will be a whole new line of people unaccounted for in time and I can't predict what they'll do. I have to let them die. Everyone who dies,_ must _die. I can't do anything. I mustn't. That's just how it has to be, and I'm… going to have to live with that._

"Hello!" The Doctor chimed, knocking on the open door to gather attention from the people inside the room. "Excuse me, not interrupting, am I? Mr. Shakespeare, isn't it?"

"Oh, no. No, no, no. Who let you in? No autographs. No, you can't have yourself sketched with me. And please don't ask where I get my ideas from. Thanks for the interest. Now be a good boy and shove—" Shakespeare stopped upon spotting Martha poking out from behind the Doctor; myself taking a backseat to all this. "Nonny, nonny. Sit right down here next to me." He grinned, turning to the two men at his table and waving them off. "You two, get sewing on them costumes. Off you go."

"Come on, lads. I think our William's found his new muse." The maid drawled with a smile and the group left as Martha headed over.

"Sweet lady." Shakespeare cooed at her, giving her a once over. "Such unusual clothes. So fitted."

"Um, verily, forsooth, egads." Martha sputtered out once she'd sat, making the Doctor groan as I sat between her and him; staying silent for now.

"No, no. Don't do that. Don't." The Doctor chided her before showing the playwright his psychic paper. "I'm Sir Doctor of Tardis and these are my companions, Ms. Martha Jones and Kris Lewis."

"Interesting, that bit of paper." Shakespeare said. "It's blank."

The Doctor's mouth dropped open before forming a grin. "Oh, that's very clever. That proves it. Absolute genius."

Shakespeare hummed at the compliment as Martha pointed at the wallet.

"No, it says right there. Sir Doctor, Martha Jones, Kris Lewis. It says so."

"And I say it's blank." Shakespeare challenged, before gesturing to me, surprisingly. "What say you, Kris Lewis?"

"W-What?" I questioned, turning to the Doctor, but he seemed curious as well and I hesitated before looking at the wallet.

I looked for a moment, not pleased to find it blank, but when I reached for it and brought it closer to look at, words appeared slowly and dimly. Like writing with a pen reaching the last of its ink.

"It was, um, blank but now it has writing that's sort of… blurred." I managed to get out, passing it to the Doctor. "So I guess you're both right."

Martha gave the Doctor a look and he grimaced. "Eh, psychic paper. Um, long story. Oh, I hate starting from scratch."

"Psychic? Never heard that before and words are my trade." Shakespeare mused. "Who are you exactly? More's the point, who is your delicious blackamoor lady?"

"What did you say?" Martha said, offended.

"Oops. Isn't that a word we use nowadays? An Ethiop girl? A swarth? A Queen of Afric?"

The Doctor let out a breath, rubbing his face as Martha turned to him.

"I can't believe I'm hearing this."

"It's political correctness gone mad." The Doctor replied to her comment. "Um, Martha's from a far-off land. Freedonia."

"Excuse me!" A man called out, dressed in riches and thick coats. "Hold hard a moment."

 _Shakespeare's boss._ My mind supplied as I moved away slightly so he and Shakespeare could speak without my head in the way.

"This is abominable behavior. A new play with no warning? I demand to see a script, Mr. Shakespeare. As Master of the Revels, every new script must be registered at my office and examined by me before it can be performed."

"Tomorrow morning, first thing, I'll send it round." Shakespeare drawled, having expected this, apparently.

"I don't work to your schedule, you work to mine. The script. _Now_."

"I can't."

"Then tomorrow's performance is cancelled." He declared and I closed my eyes with a tired sigh, knowing those words that I didn't prevent were what was going to kill him in the end; though the woman walking out behind him technically did the physical act. "I'm returning to my office for a banning order. If it's the last thing I do, _Love's Labor's Won_ will never be played."

The man left and drinks were brought in; myself wincing and forcing my unsteady hands to leave the cup be. _Charlotte is getting over a bad drinking problem. No need to ruin what work she's put in and have it become_ my _problem._

"Well then." Martha spoke up, wincing at whatever she'd just drank. "Mystery solved. That's _Love Labor's Won_ over and done with. Thought it might be something more, you know, more mysterious."

A man's shout came from outside, then a woman's scream, making the Doctor stand in a rush and the four of us—including Shakespeare—hurry after him. We reached the courtyard just in time to spot the man spewing out water; myself cringing away to look anywhere except at the man I'd condemned to death.

"It's that Lynley bloke."

"What's wrong with him?" The Doctor questioned, before moving towards the crowd as the man collapsed. "Leave it to me. I'm a doctor."

"So am I, near enough."

They both grabbed onto him, before he hit the ground and the Doctor hurried off, feeling something suspicious, was my guess. Martha stayed though, trying to wake Lynley and prep him for CPR. Unfortunately, the man was already dead and continued to have water pour from his mouth. I though, walked away from the scene, fighting my clenching stomach and leaning against the inn as I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself. _I can do this. I_ have _to do this. I can't change anything. I just can't._

"Are you quite alright?"

I jumped, turning to see Shakespeare standing there looking a bit worried and I hastily nodded.

"Ah, yes. Sorry. I'm just… not a fan of crowds really." I winced as I looked back at the crowd around Lynley's body. "Nor death."

"Who is?" He hummed. "Poor Lynley. He didn't deserve that, even with his temper. He was quite a good man when he wanted to be. You shouldn't blame yourself though. It's not your fault, much less anyone else's."

I stiffened at that. "W-What?"

He just smiled sadly, looking more tired than he was a few moments ago, when the Doctor headed back over; Martha on his heels. We all headed back upstairs in somber silence; Shakespeare sitting heavily in a chair before the maid came in.

"I got you a room, Sir Doctor. You, Ms. Jones, and Mr. Lewis are just across the landing."

I said nothing about the wrong pronoun she used, too tired to care at this point, though Shakespeare—surprisingly—quietly corrected her and she apologized before heading off.

"Poor Lynley." Shakespeare muttered. "So many strange events. Not least of all, this land of Freedonia where a woman can be a doctor?"

"Where a woman can do what she likes." Martha corrected with a small smile.

"And you, Sir Doctor. How can a man so young have eyes so old?"

"I do a lot of reading." He responded, eyeing the man curiously.

"A trite reply. Yeah, that's what I'd do. And you." He looked back to Martha. "You look at him like you're surprised he exists. He's as much of a puzzle to you as he is to me." Then his eyes shifted to me and I did my best to look at him directly, only to turn away as I remembered Lynley's death. "And then there's you. A woman, dressed like a man, yet so lost in this world and in herself. So deeply troubled by things not her own. And you look at the Doctor like he's the most amazing person you've met. Like you've seen what he's capable of and respect him so highly. Fearing his rage, and yet more than willing to do what you can to ease his burden as if it were your own."

I swallowed thickly, wanting nothing more than to run from the looks the Doctor was giving me as well as the playwright, who went on.

"And you're mourning. I've seen that look before. You've lost someone, haven't you? And you're still so young, but you're burdening yourself with so much. Much more than I can even fathom, but for what purpose? Why do you burden yourself with the problems of others when you yourself already have so much to carry? Why do you possess that body, Kris?"

I could feel the blood draining from my face at those words, locking eyes with him in blatant shock as my hands shook and Martha, thankfully, ended our little chat.

"I think we should say goodnight."

"I-I'll go too." I stuttered out, trailing after her and not saying a word as I settled in a chair in the room and stared out the window; too unsettled now to sleep.

* * *

The Doctor returned to the room the trio would be staying in and Martha gave him an uneasy smile.

"It's not exactly five-star, is it?" She joked as his gaze shifted to Kris, who was sitting in a chair by the window, lost in her thoughts.

"Oh, it'll do. I've seen worse." He commented, deciding that he'd speak with Kris later about Shakespeare's words.

It seemed like something personal, after all. He wasn't sure she'd want to discuss it in front of Martha, if at all. _Though what he said at the end was strange and the most upsetting to her, for some reason. Curious._

"I haven't even got a toothbrush." Martha continued to complain.

"Oh! Uh…" He dug through his coat pockets before pulling one out. "Contains Venusian spearmint."

She took it with a smile as he loosened his tie. "So, who's going where? I mean, there's only one bed."

"We'll manage. Come on." He said, flopping back onto the blankets.

"So, magic and stuff. That's a surprise. It's all a bit Harry Potter." She mused.

"Wait till you read book seven. Oh, I cried."

"But is it real though? I mean, witches, black magic and all that, it's real?"

"Course it isn't!"

"Well, how am I supposed to know? I've only just started believing in time travel. Give me a break."

"Looks like witchcraft, but it isn't. Can't be." He said, before giving her a look. "You going to stand there all night?"

She wandered over and set the candle she'd been using down, nudging him. "Budge over a bit then."

He did so and she smiled.

"Sorry. There's not much room. Us two here, same bed. Tongues will wag." She teased, but he wasn't listening.

"What about you then, Kris? Going to sit in that rough chair all night?"

Kris slowly turned to look at him and he stiffened. There was something off about that look that put him on edge. Like she wasn't all there. Stuck in a painful memory or something and not really caring one way or the other as to what was going on.

"I'm fine." She muttered, turning away and tucking her arms further into her coat. "Thanks anyway."

 _Or perhaps she cared too much._ He thought. Either way though, he knew she was having a hard time with something. The only problem was the other occupant sharing the room with them. He wouldn't be able to get answers from her now, so he settled back into the pillows and thought about the other problem at hand; completely forgetting Martha had been attempting to flirt with him a second ago.

"There's such a thing as psychic energy, but a human couldn't channel it like that. Not without a generator the size of Taunton and I think we'd have spotted that. No, there's something I'm missing, Martha." He said, rolling onto his side to face her. "Something really close, staring me right in the face and I can't see it… Rose'd know. A friend of mine, Rose. Right now, she'd say exactly the right thing. Still, can't be helped. You're a novice, never mind." He rolled back. "I'll take you back home tomorrow."

"Great." She snipped, blowing out the candle and settling in to sleep.

The Doctor waited until her breathing had evened out, being sure she was asleep before getting up and pulling up the second chair over beside Kris. She didn't even spare him a glance and he stayed quiet for a moment, looking out the window with her before finally speaking.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"I can't." She replied and he went to argue that point, but one look at her expression made him stop.

 _She really can't. I wonder why._ He scratched his head but didn't press her further, settling back in the chair instead.

"You're not tired?" He asked her and she sighed.

"Exhausted." She muttered, making him worried.

"Then why don't you sleep? I'll let you take the bed."

She tore her eyes from the window and ducked her head further into the recesses of her scarf. "I don't want to."

" _And you're mourning, aren't you?"_ Shakespeare's words echoed in the Doctor's ears and understanding dawned on him. _Nightmares, probably._

"Doctor?"

"Hm?"

Kris turned to look at him, eyes deeply troubled, though he hadn't the slightest idea why. "How do you do it?"

He raised a brow. "Do what?"

She looked away. "This. Going back in time. Because you read about it, right? In the history books? How things changed, people dying, lands being conquered… How do you not just try to go out there and save everyone?"

The Doctor's eyes saddened, his hearts aching for the lives he'd watched slowly fade before his eyes. "It's… hard." He admitted, looking back out to the stars. "But I try to keep it all behind me. Think of the positive things that happen later on that I've saved."

"What if… What if they're an ant?"

"What?"

Kris dragged a hand down her face. "I mean, what if they're one tiny pinprick in time? Like what if you knew how to save Lynley? Would you do it?"

He raised a brow, confused. "Isn't that what I tried to do? If I had a way to save someone, I would."

"But you don't know him. How his living would change the future. How his children and grandchildren would affect things later. So how can you know if you're making the right choice or not?"

The Doctor went to explain how he could sense the flow of time, but as he looked at Kris, he realized she was _far_ more panicked about his answer than normal. She was desperate for an answer. Her hands were shaking as they tightly gripped the sleeves of her coat and he could see the taught muscles in her jaw revealing how tightly her teeth were clenched together. Something wasn't sitting right with him and he needed to ask.

"Kris, what's going on? What's this really about? I swear, you can tell me what it is. I won't be upset." He said, hoping to ease whatever fear of him she had.

" _Fearing his rage, and yet more than willing to do what you can to ease his burden as though it was your own… Why do you burden yourself with the problems of others when you yourself already have so much to carry?"_

"I'm sorry, but I can't. I just can't." She said, standing and making for the door.

The Doctor reached out, trying to stop her but also keep his voice down so as not to wake Martha. "Kris, Kris, wait! Let me help!"

She shook her head though, apologizing; voice tense. "I'm sorry. I-I just need some air."

And she walked out, closing the door behind her and leaving the Doctor with more questions than answers. _Just how bad is this thing she's hiding? Was it a mistake to bring her with me?_

* * *

 _I can't do this. God, how am I supposed to do this?_ I thought angrily, mentally scolding myself for what I'd told the Doctor. _I'm giving away too much. He'll be suspicious now. Why couldn't I just keep my mouth shut? There's nothing I can do here. There's nothing I am_ allowed _to do. I need to remain impartial, unbiased and just… I just need to stay out of things that aren't my problem. I can't get close to anyone. I need to pretend they're just characters, but… but how long can I do that? Already… Already, the Doctor, he's… he's a friend. More than that, he's… he's my hero. He's someone I look up to and highly respect. Would I be so willing to turn my back on him? What about when the Master shows up? Or the Daleks? Hell, even when that crazy witch tries to kill him. Will I be so willing to stand back and watch?_ Knowing _I might be able to ease his suffering even the slightest bit?_

" _Why do you burden yourself with the problems of others when you yourself already have so much to carry?"_

I winced as Shakespeare's words went through my mind before I shook my head. _No. The Doctor is who he is because he had those experiences. Because he_ will _have those experiences. I can't change anything. I just can't._

"Hm? You're still up? Can't sleep?" A voice chimed and I jolted to a halt as the maid, Dolly, wandered over with a broom. "Do you want me to make you some tea? I have a drink that will be sure to help you sleep."

"A-Ah, no. I'm alright. Really." I said, giving the broom a worried glance.

 _Leave! Leave, before you get caught up in things! You can't change what's going to happen! You can't!_

"It's no trouble on my part." She pressed. "I'll just need to drop by Will's room—Ah, Shakespeare, that is. He's expecting me over for… something. I'll just need to let him know I'll be a few minutes more."

"N-No, really. It's fi—"

I was cut off though as she walked through the door on my left, alerting me moments too late that I was _right_ next to Shakespeare's room. _God, no. Not like this. Please, don't make me have to do this. Don't force me to make a choice with her right there. Please._ My pleas went unanswered as Dolly smiled at where Shakespeare was sprawled out across his desk; the witch Lilith standing before him with her back facing the two of us.

"Oh, aye. I'm not the first, then." She said upon spotting Lilith, not sounding too pleased.

Lilith turned around then, startling her with her old haggard appearance and I stiffened. _What do I do? What do I do?! I-I can't stop this! I want to, but I-I can't! I-I have to watch her die. Why do I have to watch her die?!_

"I'll take that to aid my flight and neither of you shall speak no more this night."

Lilith rushed forward, Dolly screaming before collapsing and the witch turned to me. I attempted to dodge her outstretched hand, but to no avail as her finger touched just above my heart and I felt a cry of pain tear its way out of my throat as I fell to my knees. My chest burned like an icy hot fire was being pushed through my heart with every frantic beat and every gasp of air. It was hard to breath and my vision swam with tears of pain and overwhelming guilt that I'd just stood there while Dolly was killed. I pushed myself over to the wall and clutched at the fabric of my shirt just above my heart as I heard the Doctor's pounding steps heading this way as I questioned why I was still alive and Dolly lie stone cold at my feet. _S-She's dead. She's dead a-and I have to tell myself it's not my fault. I-I have to, because if I don't, I won't be able to handle this. It's not my fault. It's not._

"I-I-It's not… m-my fault." I stuttered out between breaths and tears. "I-It's not… m-my fault."

The Doctor and Martha burst in then, startling Shakespeare from his sleep. Martha rushed to the window as the Doctor checked Dolly for a pulse and then spotted me and hurried over.

"Kris? Kris, what happened? Are you alright?"

"I-It's not my fault… I-It's not." Was all I could get out and he quickly pulled me into his arms and held me, unsure of what I was talking about, but knowing that I was not in the best of shape.

"Doctor?" Martha called out as he gave Dolly a surprised look.

"Her heart gave out. She died of fright." He said by way of explanation, before looking over me as I shook slightly in his arms. "Kris, are you alright?"

I shook my head, a silent 'no', and he then caught sight of my fist clenched around my shirt and quickly took my pulse as he spoke to Martha.

"Martha, what did you see?"

"A witch." She replied, in just as much shock.

The Doctor turned to me for confirmation and I bowed my head, not wanting to think about what I'd done with Dolly's death practically scalded into my mind.

"Martha, can you go grab me a blanket from the other room and some tea for Kris?"

"Yeah, sure." She replied, heading off to do that as the Doctor helped me to my feet and over to a chair nearby.

He knelt down in front of me and did a few reflex tests to make sure I was alright, before quietly asking again, what happened.

"S-She offered me tea when she saw I wasn't sleeping." I finally answered him, speaking slowly as I struggled through the images of a few moments ago in my mind. "I said no, but she went to tell Shakespeare she'd be late, when we saw an old woman. She said something in a rhyme and took the broom. She touched just above our hearts and then rushed out the window."

He nodded and then looked right at me. "It's not your fault." He said sternly.

"I-I could have stopped her." I replied, but he shook his head.

"There was nothing you, or anyone, could have done."

I said nothing to that, my mind screaming that he didn't understand. I _could_ have saved Dolly. I just chose not to. And that guilt would live with me for a long time. We all settled down in Shakespeare's office as someone came and collected Dolly's body and I remained seated in a chair with the Doctor's coat and a blanket over my shoulders, in shock. The Doctor had already scanned me with his sonic and informed me I'd be fine but would need to take it easy for another hour or so, before handing me a cup of tea that had long since grown cold and left untouched. The sun rose sooner than I wished, leaving me feeling exhausted after the witch ordeal and the fact that I hadn't slept in what felt like years; Shakespeare pacing.

"Oh, sweet Dolly Bailey. She sat out three bouts of the plague in this place when we all ran like rats. But what could have scared her so? She has such enormous spirit." He hummed, his kind words about Dolly making me feel worse as I ducked my head lower into my scarf.

"'Rage, rage against the dying of the light.'" The Doctor quoted.

"I might use that."

"You can't." He told Shakespeare idly. "It's someone else's."

"But the thing is, Lynley drowned on dry land, Dolly died of fright, and they were both connected to you." Martha piped in making Shakespeare frown.

"You're accusing me?"

"No, but I saw a witch. Kris did too. Big as you like, flying, cackling away. And you've written about witches."

"I have? When was that?" Shakespeare questioned and the Doctor winced.

"Not… Not quite yet."

"Peter Streete spoke of witches." Shakespeare said then, having remembered something.

"Who's Peter Streete?"

"Our builder. He sketched the plans to the Globe."

"The architect… Hold on. The architect! The architect! The Globe! Come on!" The Doctor called out, giving me a small smile and tugging on my hand to get me to stand and join them.

I was reluctant. I knew that one of the witches would show up there and Peter Streete would die as well, and watching one person die because of me was bad enough, but two? _I need to push past it. I need to take a deep breath and brace myself for it. Push past Dolly's death. Set it aside to deal with later and do the same for Peter. T-That's… That's all I can do, really._ So, I allowed the Doctor to pull me along to the Globe Theater where he stood in the pit and looked around the fourteen walls with a curious look.

"The columns there, right? Fourteen sides. I've always wondered, but I never asked. Tell me, Will. Why fourteen sides?" He asked Shakespeare, who stood behind me with Martha on the stage; myself seated on the edge.

"It was the shape Peter Streete thought best, that's all. Said it carried the sound well."

"Fourteen. Why does that ring a bell? Fourteen…" The Doctor muttered as I bit my tongue to stay silent.

"There's fourteen lines in a sonnet." Martha offered.

"So there is. Good point. Words and shapes following the same design. Fourteen lines, fourteen sides, fourteen facets. Oh, my head. Tetradecagon. Think, think, think!" The Doctor complained, rounding on me then. "Kris, any ideas?"

I stiffened, unsure why he was asking me and I tried to think up something not too revealing. "U-Um… Well, fourteen doesn't ring a bell with any of us and… this isn't exactly…" I glanced at Shakespeare briefly, but turned back to the Doctor. "…our area of expertise. It's yours, right? So, it wouldn't be anything… earthly."

"Hm, good point." He hummed. "Words, letters, numbers, lines…"

"This is just a theate." Shakespeare complained, not knowing what the Doctor was going on about.

"Oh yeah, but a theater's magic, isn't it? You should know. Stand on this stage, say the right words with the right emphasis at the right time. Oh, you can make men weep, or cry with joy. Change them. You can change people's minds just with words in this place. But if you exaggerate that…" He trailed off, grasping at some thought just out of his reach.

"It's like your police box." Martha interjected. "Small wooden box with all that _power_ inside."

"Oh. Oh, Martha Jones, I like you. Tell you what, though. Peter Streete would know. Can I talk to him?" The Doctor asked Shakespeare.

"You won't get an answer. A month after finishing this place, he lost his mind."

"Why? What happened?" Martha questioned.

"Started raving about witches, hearing voices, babbling. His mind was addled."

 _No, he was being used. Like a tool._ I felt an angry frown threaten to form on my face, but stifled the urge. _No, don't get attached. He's a character. Pretend he's a character._

"Where is he now?"

"Bedlam."

"What's Bedlam?" Martha questioned and I grimaced.

"Bethlem Hospital. The madhouse." Shakespeare informed her.

"We're going to go there. Right now. Come on." The Doctor chimed.

"Wait! I'm coming with you. I want to witness this at first hand." Shakespeare called out as the Doctor dodged two of his actors and he gave them orders while we hurried after the Doctor.

 _Oh, and I could change everything by telling them to ignore Shakespeare's last two lines._ I thought, already squirming at the idea and throwing it out of my head instantly. _I can't interfere._

"So, tell me of Freedonia." Shakespeare inquired from Martha and I. "Where women can be doctors, writers, actors and dress how they please."

I smiled a little at that, not seeing the Doctor relax slightly at the action.

"This country's ruled by a woman." Martha said, matter-of-factly.

"Ah, she's royal. That's God's business. Though you are a royal beauty." Shakespeare flirted with her.

"Whoa, Nelly. I know for a fact you've got a wife in the country." Martha attempted.

"But Martha, this is Town." He countered and the Doctor rolled his eyes.

"Come on. We can all have a good flirt later."

"Is that a promise, Doctor?" Shakespeare tried with him instead and I couldn't help the smile at that point.

"Oh, fifty-seven academics just punched the air." The Doctor drawled, though he didn't look too bothered until Shakespeare turned to me.

"Or perhaps you wouldn't mind some entertainment, Kris?"

I raised a brow, grinning in amusement. "You go for anything that moves, don't you?"

He chuckled. "Only if it has a handsome face such as yours."

I laughed a bit as well, but the Doctor had stopped and frowned sternly at Shakespeare.

"Yes, that's quite enough of that, thank you. Now move!"

He grabbed Shakespeare by the arm and shoved him forwards, getting the man into a jog before joining himself and sticking by my side. I gave him a curious look, confused by his actions and quickly pushing aside the thought that drifted into my head that he might be jealous of what Shakespeare said to me. _Yeah right. He defended Martha too._ I argued with myself, a part of me knowing that he'd been not _nearly_ as determined with defending her as he had with me. I said nothing though and pushed the idea away as we entered Bethlam Hospital and the guard led us into where the so called 'patients' were being kept. _Chained and imprisoned like animals. How cruel… but I know that no one had any idea what mental illnesses were at this point in time. Still, it's not pleasant._ I thought with a cringe as my ears were battered with the desperate cries of the people here.

"Does my Lord Doctor wish some entertainment while he waits? I'd whip these madmen They'll put on a good show for you. Mad dog in Bedlam." The guard mused with a grin, but the Doctor quickly snapped at the man.

"No, I don't!"

The guard was visibly shaken by the intensity of the Doctor's refusal and bowed his head slightly. "Well, wait here, my lords, while I make him decent for the lady."

"So this is what you call a hospital, yeah?" Martha questioned in disgust. "Where the patients are whipped to entertain the gentry? And you put your friend in here?"

Shakespeare fidgeted, not comfortable either. "Oh, it's all so different in Freedonia." He complained in his nervousness.

"But you're clever. Do you honestly think this place is any good?"

"I've been mad. I've lost my mind." He admitted. "Fear of this place set me right again. It serves its purpose."

"Mad in what way?"

"He lost his son." I muttered solemnly and Shakespeare nodded.

"My only boy. The Black Death took him. I wasn't even there."

"I didn't know. I'm sorry." Martha apologized.

"It made me question everything." Shakespeare continued. "The futility of this fleeting existence. To be to not to be…" He paused at that. "Oh, that's quite good."

"You should write that down." The Doctor encouraged.

"Maybe not. A bit pretentious?"

The Doctor shrugged as the guard called out and we were brought over to where Peter Streete's cell was.

"They can be dangerous, my lord. Don't know their own strength." The guard warned, but the Doctor had enough and his temper flared.

"I think it helps if you don't whip them. Now get out!"

The guard meekly left, shutting us in with Peter Streete and the Doctor lost his hard edge as he approached Peter.

"Peter? Peter Streete?"

"He's the same as he was." Shakespeare commented. "You'll get nothing out of him."

"Peter?" The Doctor continued to try, touching his shoulder and making Peter lift his head to look at him.

The Doctor moved slowly, not wanting to disturb the man too much, and placed his hands on his temples.

"Peter, I'm the Doctor. Go into the past. One year ago. Let your mind go back. Back to when everything was fine and shining. Everything that happened in this year since happened to somebody else. It was just a story. A Winter's Tale. Let go. That's it. That's it, just let go." He said quietly, lowering Peter onto the cot and releasing him. "Tell me the story, Peter. Tell me about the witches."

"Witches spoke to Peter. In the night, they whispered. They whispered." Peter told us, moving his fingers jerkily around his head. "Got Peter to build the Globe to their design. _Their_ design. The fourteen walls. Always fourteen. When the work was done…" He cackled for a moment before the manic grin faded. "…they snapped poor Peter's wits."

"Where did Peter see the witches? Where in the city?" The Doctor asked, kneeling down towards him. "Peter, tell me. You've got to tell me. Where were they?"

"All Hallow's Street." Peter finally said before a voice croaked out, making me flinch.

"Too many words." The witch said.

 _I didn't even see her come in! She was_ right _next to the Doctor! How did we not notice her?!_

"What the hell?" Martha exclaimed as the Doctor jumped up and over towards us; the witch moving towards Peter and making my heart leap up into my throat.

 _Look away, Kris! J-Just pretend it's not happening! Pretend this isn't your fault! It's a story! J-Just a story! His death won't be your fault!_ My mind screamed at me as she held up a finger.

"Just one touch of the heart."

"No!" The Doctor shouted; his previous words rolling into my head.

" _If I had a way to save someone, I would."_

Then, I moved. My mind went blank, not thinking of the consequences of my actions as I tore the Doctor's coat from off my shoulders and threw it over the witch. It wasn't much, but it stopped her long enough for me to yank Peter off the cot and onto the floor over by the rest of us. I looked at him in shock, breathing hard and silently screaming in my head about what an idiot I'd been by actually doing something. _I told you not to interfere! Things have to go as the plot said they would! What do you think is going to happen with Peter alive?! You don't have the slightest idea of what you've done! You idiot! You big, stupid moron!_

"Kris?" The Doctor breathed out and I looked over at him in blatant shock at my own actions before the witch untangled herself from his coat and snarled at me.

"You! You should have died along with that maid."

"Witch… I'm seeing a witch." Shakespeare said in shock, more stunned at that than the fact that his old friend had been attacked and I was supposed to have died.

"Just one touch. Oh, oh. I'll stop your frantic heart." The witch told me and I stiffened. "Poor fragile mortal."

The Doctor stepped in front of me then, surprising me. "You leave her be." He snapped.

"Doctor, can you stop her?" Shakespeare questioned and the witch laughed in amusement.

"No mortal has power over me."

"Oh, but there's a power in words." The Doctor countered. "If I can find the right one. If I can just know you."

"None on Earth has knowledge of us." She hissed out and the Doctor smirked.

"Then it's a good thing I'm here. Now, think, think, think." He mused, keeping his eye on the witch. "Humanoid female, uses shapes and words to channel energy. Ah! Fourteen! That's it! Fourteen! The fourteen stars of the Rexel planetary configuration!" He exclaimed, before pointing a finger at the stunned witch. "Creature, I name you Carrionite!"

The witch screeched and vanished in a flash of light as the Doctor took a small step back and Martha looked at him in shock.

"What did you do?"

"I named her." He explained. "The power of a name. That's old magic."

"But there's no such thing as magic."

"Well, it's just a different sort of science. You lot, you chose mathematics. Given the right string of numbers, the right equation, you can split the atom. Carrionites use words instead."

"Use them for what?"

"The end of the world." The Doctor replied ominously, before turning to me with a wicked grin. "You though, _oh,_ you were brilliant!"

 _No… No, don't praise me. I wasn't supposed to interfere! I-I've done wrong!_ I mentally screamed, looking at Peter on the ground, still alive, and back at the Doctor, who smiled away like I'd won the lottery. His grin faltered though, when he noticed I didn't appear to be as glad as he was.

"Kris? What is it?"

I opened my mouth but closed it with a small frown. _I can't say anything. I've screwed up already, but telling him would be the worst possible thing. He_ can't _know about my foreknowledge._

"Sorry. It's… It's nothing. I was just… shocked, I guess." I managed to tell him as the guard returned and opened the cell door, giving me an out. "Excuse me."

* * *

The Doctor couldn't figure it out. Kris had been acting strangely ever since she'd been brought here and he wasn't sure why. _Perhaps she's just not cut out for this sort of thing._ He thought, but even that didn't settle right with him. Sure, she hadn't handled Dolly's death very well, but she too, had been attack and nearly killed. He still winced when he thought of the moment he'd hurried into Shakespeare's study to find her on the ground in shock and Dolly dead. Still, she didn't seem too bad when Lynley died, though she kept her distance. Most of all though, her questions that night had particularly unnerved him. _Could she be time sensitive? Her being able to see the future—even just glimpses of it—could explain quite a few things. But if that is true, then why hasn't she said anything? And why didn't I catch it? Time sensitivity is relatively easy to spot for Time Lords._ He frowned though, eyeing Kris as she sat with a cup of tea that she hadn't touched since they returned to the inn. _I'll need proof, but if she is time sensitive, then we're going to have to talk; set down some rules. And she'll need some support, mentally. A human with that sort of skill could easily be overwhelmed, especially if they begin to place the blame on themselves for things that happen._ He shook his head, pushing the matter aside for now. He could talk to Kris back on the Tardis. At the moment, they had a bigger problem.

"The Carrionites disappeared way back at the dawn of the universe. Nobody was sure if they were real or legend." He rattled on, tugging a hand through his hair as he paced.

"Well, I'm going for real." Shakespeare quipped, drying his face.

"But what do they want?" Martha asked.

"A new empire, on Earth." The Doctor said, sucking in a breath through his teeth. "A world of bones and blood and witchcraft."

"But how?"

"I'm looking at the man with the words." He said, and Shakespeare frowned, offended.

"Me? But I've done nothing."

"Hold on, though. What were you doing last night, when that Carrionite was in the room?" Martha asked, turning to Kris. "Did you see anything?"

Kris shook her head. "Dolly and I walked in and he was slumped over on his desk. Out cold."

"I was finishing the play." Shakespeare replied.

"What happens on the last page?" The Doctor questioned with wide eyes and Shakespeare thought for a second.

"The boys get the girls. They have a bit of a dance. It's all as funny and thought provoking as usual… Except those last few lines. Funny thing is, I don't actually remember writing them."

"That's it. They used you. They gave you the final words like a spell, like a code. _Love Labor's Won_. It's a weapon. The right combination of words, spoken at the right place, with the shape of the Globe as an energy converter! 'The play's the thing'!" He quoted, turning back to Shakespeare. "And yes, you can have that. Now, I need a map."

Kris pointed at the bookshelf beside her. "Top shelf."

The Doctor nodded his thanks and pulled down a map of the area, looking it over before finding the street that Peter had named.

"All Hallows Street. There it is. Martha, Kris and I will track them down. Will, you get to the Globe. Whatever you do, stop the play."

Shakespeare nodded with a grin. "I'll do it. All these years, I've been the cleverest man around. Next to you, I know nothing." He praised the Doctor, giving his hand a shake and Martha rolled her eyes.

"Oh, don't complain."

"I'm not. It's marvelous. Good luck, Doctor."

"Good luck, Shakespeare. 'Once more unto the breach.'"

"I like that." Shakespeare replied, before realizing something as the group headed out. "Wait a minute, that's one of mine."

The Doctor poked his head back around the corner. "Oh, just shift!"

They were soon on the right street and the Doctor frowned.

"All Hallows Street, but which house?"

"The thing is though, am I missing something here?" Martha asked. "The world didn't end in 1599. It just didn't. Look at me. I'm living proof."

"Oh, how to explain the mechanics of the infinite temporal flux?" The Doctor groaned, but Kris piped in.

"It's like 'Back to the Future'. When Marty McFly goes back and changes history."

Martha's eyes widened. "And he starts fading away. Oh my God, am I going to fade?"

"You and the entire human race." The Doctor corrected. "It ends right now in 1599 if we don't stop it. But which house?"

A door opened then and the Doctor grimaced.

"Ah, make that _witch_ house."

He wiggled his brows at the two of them and they headed in cautiously. The Doctor gave Kris an extra glance though, seeing that she was struggling with something once again, though he doubted she would voice her worries. It didn't take long though, for them to find the upper floor and the witch's lair, where a young blonde woman stood in the center of the room waiting for them.

"I take it we're expected."

"Oh, I think Death has been waiting for you a very long time."

"Right then, it's my turn." Martha grinned, lifting a finger. "I know how to do this. I name thee, Carrionite!"

The witch, Lilith, gasped, but then laughed; unaffected.

"What did I do wrong?" Martha questioned the Doctor. "Was it the finger?"

"The power of a name works only once." Lilith explained, lifting her own finger. "Observe. I gaze upon this bag of bones and now I name thee Martha Jones."

Martha's eyes rolled up into her skull and she collapsed, the Doctor grabbing her and helping her to the ground as he angrily shouted at Lilith.

"What have you done?!"

"Only sleeping, alas. It's curious." The woman said. "The name has less impact. She's somehow out of her time. As for you, Sir Doctor." She paused, looking him over as he towered furiously over her. "Fascinating. There is no name. Why would a man hide his title in such despair? Oh, but look. There's still one word with the power that aches."

"The naming won't work on me." The Doctor told her confidently.

"But your heart grows cold. The north wind blows and carried down the distant… _Rose_."

The Doctor stiffened, rage and a deep sadness building up in him. "Oh, big mistake. Because that name keeps me fighting."

"Oh? Then what about your little friend there?" She questioned, smirking at Kris, who stiffened.

"You leave her alone." The Doctor growled, but Lilith continued to grin.

"Oh, but don't you want to know? After all, it's very rare that someone has two names that hold power over them." Lilith mused, taking pleasure in how Kris's face paled. "It explained why my little trick didn't work on you like it did the maid. One for the body, and one for the soul. But which holds more power now? You wanted to paint yourself scarlet, my lovely dear Charlotte."

Kris grimaced in pain, doubling over slightly and gripping her chest with the Doctor grabbing her and shouting at Lilith.

"Stop it!"

But Lilith went on. "But your plan failed and it looks like my miss, except I know your true name now… is _Kris_."

Kris's legs buckled beneath her and the Doctor barely managed to grab her as she gasped and wheeze painfully; making him even angrier.

"What did you do?!" The Doctor shouted, leaning her against a wall before standing furiously. "You stop this! Stop it now!"

"It's too late. You're lucky she isn't dead." Lilith said coldly. "A blow like that would sever the life of most mortals if she wasn't from more than just out of her time."

"The Carrionites vanished. Where did you go?" He demanded, storming up to her and she turned away with a huff.

"The Eternals found the right word to banish us into deep darkness."

"And how did you escape?"

"New words. New and glittering, from a mind like no other."

"Shakespeare." The Doctor easily concluded, looking at the bowl with images of Shakespeare' grief.

"His son perished. The grief of a genius. Grief without measure. Madness enough to allow us entrance."

"How many of you?"

"Just the three. But the play tonight shall restore the rest. Then the human race will be purged as pestilence. And from this world we will lead the universe back into the old ways of blood and magic."

"Hm, busy schedule. But first you've got to get past me." He said, and she leaned in.

"Oh, that should be a pleasure, considering my enemy has such a handsome shape." She murmured, bringing a hand up to his cheek.

"Now, that's one form of magic that's definitely not going to work on me." The Doctor said, but he heard Kris say 'no' in a breathy whisper and he turned to her as Lilith cooed.

"Oh, we'll see." She said, snatching a hair from his head and making him whip back around in confusion.

"What did you do?"

"Souvenir." Lilith hummed and the Doctor quickly moved towards her.

"Give it back!"

She flew out the window though, hovering just out of his reach and he pouted.

"Well, that's just cheating."

"Behold, Doctor. Men to Carrionites are nothing but puppets." She said, pulling out a straw doll from her cloak and wrapping his hair around it.

"Now, you might call that magic. I'd call that a DNA replication module." The Doctor replied, though his voice was tight with nervousness.

He knew what something like that could do, after all. And pain was never something he enjoyed.

"What use is your science now?" Lilith questioned, before she stabbed the doll and cackled as the Doctor let out a cry of pain and collapsed to the ground.

She flew off as Martha got up and rushed to his side, about ready to panic.

"Oh, my God, Doctor. Don't worry. I've got you." She said, rolling him onto his back before she remembered something. "Hold on, Mister. Two hearts?"

The Doctor smirked. "You're making a habit of this." He teased, making to get up, only to fall back to his knees with a cry of pain. "Ah! I've only got one heart working. How do you people cope? I've got to get the other one started. Hit me! Hit me on the chest!"

Martha did so, making him cry out again.

"Other side."

She attempted again, but it wasn't working, so he bent over.

"Now, on the back, on the back." He said as she tried again, but missed once more. "Left a bit."

She finally got it and he let out a sigh of relief.

"Ah, lovely. There we go. Badda booma!" He said, standing, before remembering that he hadn't been the only one hurt by the Carrionite. "Kris!"

He hurried over and skid to her side with Martha right behind him. He looked the woman over in concern, taking in her wheezing and pale, sweaty face, before he took her pulse.

"Oh, I don't like this." He muttered as Kris attempted to look at him and Martha took her pulse from her wrist.

"Her heart rate's too slow. She could go into cardiac arrest." She said in concern.

The Doctor frowned. "Oh, you're a right lot of trouble, you are. I hope you know that." He told Kris. "And I can't do anything here. We'll need to take you back to the Tardis. Ah, but we don't have time. The Carrionites were able to control Will once, doing it again will be no trouble. And I doubt they're just going to let him stop the play." He turned to Martha. "Would you be able to handle taking her to the Tardis on your own?"

"Yeah, sure." Martha nodded, but Kris suddenly shook her head and the Doctor immediately scowled.

"No? Kris, you could _die_ if we leave you. Someone has to get you to the ship and someone needs to stop the Carrionites. Going on your own is out of the question. The last thing we need is you collapsing on the side of the road."

Kris continued to shake her head, though the effort of doing so was obviously taxing, and the Doctor narrowed his eyes.

"Kris, are you time sensitive?" He asked bluntly and Kris didn't move, so he placed a hand on her shoulders. "Kris, if there's something you need to tell me, you have to say it or I can't help you. Now, do you know that something terrible will happen if both Martha and I don't go stop the play?"

Kris still made no reaction and the Doctor worried for a second as to whether she'd passed out or not, but a quick look at her breathing pattern said no. She was conscious. She could hear his questions, however, she was refusing to answer him for whatever reason. _Either way, we don't have time to sit here and argue about it. She won't let Martha or I stay with her, so this must have something to do with stopping the play. For some reason, she knows that both of us need to be there and the last thing I need is for our efforts to go to waste because I ignored the signs of time sensitivity._ So, the Doctor sighed and stood, turning to Martha.

"Let's go."

"What? But you said it yourself. We can't just leave her like this!" Martha protested, but Kris weakly pushed Martha away and the Doctor nodded.

"See? I don't know what's going on and we _are_ going to discuss this later, Kris, but for whatever reason, she believes we both need to be at the Globe. We're running out of time as it is and so long as she doesn't get up or try anything reckless, she should be fine here. We can get her as soon as we're done."

"But…" Martha looked back at Kris, who leaned her head back and closed her eyes; focusing on her breathing as best she could.

The Doctor took Martha's hand, tugging it lightly. "Come on, Martha."

And, with one last pull, she gave in and hurried after him to stop the Carrionites at the globe.

* * *

I was thoroughly exhausted by the time the Doctor returned to come get me, barely conscious and—according to him—barely breathing as well. He ended up quickly grabbing me and running with me in his arms to the Tardis to do something too complicated for me to follow in order to help my struggling heart. Whatever it was that he did, had me unconscious for an uncertain amount of time and now that I'd woken up, I honestly wish I hadn't. _I wonder how much this has ruined… He didn't see the Queen because he rushed back to help me, and I doubt they've gone into the whole 'Gridlock' part because of me… Will he even take her now? Or did I ruin that too?_ I brought a hand to cover my face as I took in a sharp breath through my teeth and struggled not to either cry or scream in frustration. _And he knows now. He asked me about time sensitivity and, though it's not necessarily the same thing, he knows that I can 'predict' the future. How the hell am I going to explain this? I-I should just have him leave me somewhere. Get as far away from him and his mess as soon as possible._

"I'm just going to ruin everything." I hissed under my breath.

"Now, I wouldn't say that."

My eyes widened and I bolted upright, immediately cringing and clutching at my chest at the ache that simple movement sent through me at the Doctor's words.

"Whoa, there. Take it easy." He said, resting his hands on my shoulders and lightly pushing me back onto the bed, which had been raised now so I could sit upright. "Try not to jostle yourself around like that for a while." He explained, and I slowly brought my hand away from my chest. "Now then, I think it's time I got an explanation, Kris." He said with a tone that might have sounded very neutral, but I could tell was serious and actually rather stiff.

I winced and felt myself sink into the bed a bit. _I don't want to have this conversation. I don't want to hear him. I don't want him upset or angry with me. I-I don't want to feel like all these changes, all the deaths are my fault. W-Why couldn't I have just died and gone to heaven or something? Why stick me here? Why leave me with the Doctor?_

The Doctor sighed heavily and I flinched, silently cursing myself for acting like a scared child around him—even _with_ my mental age—but I couldn't help it. How does someone explain to a man of science that they were _dead_ and ended up in someone else's body with knowledge of their entire _life_ because of a television show in another universe? And _any_ human would be frightened of the man known as the Oncoming Storm if they knew the things he was capable of and had him staring down at them like he was me.

"I'm not leaving until I get some answers, Kris." He declared, settling into his chair a bit more. "But I want you to know that you can trust me. Whether this is time sensitivity or something else, I won't judge you for it. I simply want to help you, because I can tell that whatever it is, it's bothering you. And if I had a better understanding of what was going on, then I could help you come up with a solution better than you could on your own. But I can't do anything unless you talk to me."

I stayed quiet, trying to think of something I could say to him. _A lie? No, he'd catch me in an instant. And there's no point in saying it's nothing or that I was guessing. I've already given myself away. He knows I have some foreknowledge of things and stupid Lilith gave away the fact that I used to be Charlotte and now I'm Kris, though I gave him that idea to begin with, but… the burden this stupid foreknowledge is giving me. I-I don't want to talk to him about that. He tells me to trust him a-and I do, to a point. Do I trust him enough to tell him about this foreknowledge? Maybe. But do I trust him enough to explain the whole dead thing? To tell him that I know_ everything _about him and his past and future? That I will have to stand back and watch people, his_ companions _die without doing anything? C-Can I trust him to not shut me away when I tell him of the knowledge I hold? When I tell him just how big of a liability I am?_

I felt tears spring forth at that last thought. Because I now realized that that was all I was at this point. I was a big bundle of future knowledge, of his secret past, of the Time War and the Daleks and everything else. And that would only make me a target. It would constantly put me in the line of fire and with the Doctor, that meant putting _him_ in the line of fire. I could barely handle watching one person die before I acted. What would happen if the Daleks got a hold of me? I couldn't handle torture. I'd give in and be used as a tool before being chucked away. And the Doctor? Who's to say he wouldn't do that too? Who's to say he won't look at me when something bad happens and demand that I tell him how to save someone? How to fix things? What's to stop the Doctor from shutting me away in this room and never letting me leave because of the knowledge I hold?

I sniffed, a tear finally slipping down my face and landing on my fist clenched around the blankets over my legs as the pressure of this whole mess just overwhelmed me. The Doctor didn't move to comfort me or anything. He just sat there and waited patiently, though I could feel his eyes on me as I finally forced words out of my mouth.

"I-I can't." I choked. "I'm sorry, b-but I-I can't. I don't know what I should do. I-I don't know what I can tell you a-about anything. A-About what I know, o-or who I am, or anything." I turned towards him, my eyes begging him to not press me for answers. To just give in and pretend this never happened. "H-How am I supposed to help you i-if my entire being is just one big liability?"

He frowned, suddenly very serious and I nearly fell out of the bed in fear when he grabbed my hand in his and held it tightly. "That is not true. That will _never_ be true, Kris. You are _not_ a liability. Not to me. Not to anyone."

I shook my head, trying to pull my hand from his, but he wouldn't let go. "N-No, you don't understand. I-I—" _You can't tell him!_

"Then help me understand, Kris! Help me know what's going on with you!"

"I c-can't. I can't!"

"Why can't you?!" He pressed insistently.

"Because I don't want to be left alone!" I shouted at him, finally pulling away from him, but my mouth kept going; spewing out every fear I had like a broken faucet. "I-I don't want you to look to me every time something's going wrong! I don't want to be used! I don't want to be thrown away o-or tortured for what I know! I don't want to see people die and know that it is always going to be my fault! A-And I don't want you to get hurt b-because of _me_! _I-I_ don't want to get hurt anymore. I-I just… I-I never wanted this. I'd rather be dead. W-Why couldn't I have just stayed dead?" I sobbed, starting a whole new round of tears as everything seemed to just crumble around me.

My family was gone, my friends, my job, my school, my home and siblings. My own bloody _universe_. My _body_. I only had my mind and I never had the chance to mourn over everything I'd lost because I was immediately thrust into the Doctor's life. And suddenly, I honestly _would_ rather be dead. If I was, I'd at least _feel_ at peace, wouldn't I? I couldn't face the Doctor after I said that though, curling up in a ball and facing away from him as I cried. I felt horrible for what I'd said and for everything that had just piled up until now. I felt like I was drowning and just needed some time on my own to let everything out and I was glad the Doctor got the hint. He didn't say anything or do anything other than silently get up and leave the room; leaving me alone as I cried myself into an exhausted sleep.

* * *

It was worse than he thought. The Doctor could feel that overwhelming sense of danger around Kris and he hated that. She knew too much. He could tell. _That's_ why she was depressed. _That_ explained why she stayed away when someone died. Why she blamed herself for Dolly and hid when Lynley collapsed. How she was able to move before he could, saving Peter. But the darkness around her. He could _physically feel_ how confused and depressed and scared she was. He saw how she'd flinched away from him. How right Shakespeare was when he said that she feared him the most. But he knew that the only reason she would be that afraid of him was if she knew what he'd done. If Kris _knew_ what he was capable of. And that scared _him_. How much did she know? How far back? How far forward? She called herself a liability and he hated to agree, but that's what this was beginning to look like. She had information _no one_ should know. That much was obvious. But what would he do about it?

The woman was petrified. She'd just admitted that she'd rather _die_ than be in her position right now—though her wording was a bit curious—but the Doctor could understand that fear. Who would want to know everything? Who would want to know who died and who lived? The danger everyone they knew was in? And she'd asked him. Indirectly, but still. She'd asked him that night at the inn, about what she should do. And he realized now that what he'd said wasn't exactly the best answer for her situation. The more he thought about it, actually, the more stunned he was.

 _She knows the consequences of interfering with time better than_ anyone _should at that age._ He realized, stopping just outside her door and leaning against the wall with a hand over his mouth in shock. _To know that saving even one life could spell disaster… And the burden that has placed on her… She's been trying to figure it out all on her own. What's right, what's wrong, if she can even_ do _anything. And I… I didn't even notice. She's been fighting against herself to not help and save people, while I've just been adding more pressure. H-How… How is she not falling apart?_ He remembered her crying earlier and winced. _No, she is. She's barely holding on, but how?_

"… _I don't want to be left alone!... A-And I don't want you to get hurt b-because of_ me _!"_

" _You were the first person who saw me._ Me _, me. Not Charlotte or some psychotic person. So I… I didn't want you to get hurt. I—Kris—doesn't really… exist here, so… no one would really miss—"_

" _I have nothing. You offering up your ship—your home—to me is more than I could ever ask for and, if you'll have me, I'll be glad to keep you company."_

The Doctor's hearts ached as he remembered those words that she'd said, understanding now, what had happened. _Me… She's been staying strong because of me. I gave her a home, a place to stay, someone who cared for her and believed in her. She just… She didn't want to lose that. To lose me._ He glanced at the closed door, having come to check up on her after what'd happened, and now having a better understanding of what she was going through. And an image passed through his head. An image of bandaged wrists and Kris resting in a hospital bed. His eyes widened as he suddenly panicked and he burst into the room, fearing what he might end up being witness to—if not, the cause of—only to find Kris sitting upright in her bed with a number of items scattered around her. Books, flowers, a tub of ice cream, an empty plate that might have held cookies or a sandwich, and a CD player with a number of disks beside it. Kris, slightly startled by his entrance, looked up from her book in fear, but relaxed upon seeing it was him; only to duck her head sheepishly.

"W-What's all this?" The Doctor questioned, stuttering once as he tried to control his earlier panic. _Why did I think she'd do that? Kris isn't…_

" _After all, it's very rare that someone has two names that hold power over them… One for the body, one for the soul."_

He shivered at Lilith's words, wondering why they bothered him and the fact that he believed Kris wasn't the type to self-harm, but he'd seen the evidence on her body that she would. He set down the CD he'd been looking at with a slight frown, being knocked back into the present when Kris answered his question.

"They just kept popping up." Kris replied and the Doctor hummed.

"She must like you." He told her, earning a slightly confused expression. _Why only slightly confused?_ "The Tardis. She's sentient, so she has an idea of what you're feeling. This is her trying to help, I suppose."

"Oh." Kris said, setting her book aside as the Doctor took a seat. "Sorry."

The Doctor raised a brow. "For what?"

Kris lightly touched her still bandaged wrists; an action he noticed that made him feel bad. "You thought I was going to… That's why you ran in here, wasn't it?"

The Doctor rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, yes, but for some reason, I got the feeling that you weren't the kind of person to do that. Odd, isn't it?"

He chuckled, trying to ease the atmosphere a bit, but Kris only seemed to sink back a little further into the bed. _Ah, I'm making her close herself off again._

"Look, Kris." He started, reaching over and lightly placing his hand over hers. "You are… You are very smart, kind, and… unique. And I understand that you don't want to end up alone or hurting me or yourself or others, but… having an ability like yours is something precious. And I'm not perfect. I won't deny that I may—at some point or another—ask you for help by using your ability. Or that I might get angry with you over something. But it will never be your fault. It will be mine. And the only thing I'm going to ask you right now, is to consider explaining things to me a little bit more. And I _promise_ , I won't lock you up or use you or abandon you. More than anything, I just want you to be happy, Kris."

She was quiet for a minute and the Doctor feared that she wouldn't tell him anything, but then she finally spoke.

"Then… can you promise me something?"

"Anything." He declared and she looked at him with a nervous expression that he'd yet to see on her face before.

"…Could you just… believe in the impossible for a moment? Just… until I finish and then you can call me crazy o-or whatever."

The Doctor made a confused expression, but nodded. "Alright. Believe in the impossible."

She sighed quietly, digging through her thoughts and undoubtedly attempting to find a way to explain things, though the Doctor never expected what came out of her mouth.

"I-I'm twenty-seven."

He blinked. "Really? You don't look a day over twenty-one at the latest."

She winced and he held up his hands.

"Right, sorry. I'm listening. Active listener. No interrupting." He apologized and she hesitantly went on.

"M-Mentally. I am… _was_ twenty-seven and I was driving to the nearest town from my parent's summer cabin, but… the roads were wet from rain earlier and there was a truck heading into my lane." She paused, struggling, the Doctor noticed. "I-I tried to brake, but they weren't… they didn't work. I-I _died_. I-I remember dying."

The Doctor grew more concerned as her breathing shortened and she brought a hand to her throat, closing her eyes and fighting what might have been the beginnings of a panic attack. Not only that, but how could Kris have died and still be here? Thankfully, she calmed down relatively quickly and continued.

"I-I don't know who Charlotte is. I just woke up in the hospital after… the accident, and realized that I was in her body o-or something. I don't know how." She told him, glancing at him in worry, but he did his best to keep the surprise and curiosity off his face. "A-And' I'm not from here. From this… this universe."

 _That_ made the Doctor stiffen and Kris tried to explain.

"I-In my world, there was this television show. A show with you. All about you and your travels with companions and stuff. I-I don't know the future and I'm not time sensitive or whatever, but I watched your show. I know stuff about you and Martha and Rose and everyone. I know what's going to happen later on, but only in _your_ future… _your_ past. And I don't want to ruin anything. I-I don't want to save anyone only to find out I've ruined time or took the good things that happen to you and destroyed them. I just… I want things to go as they should. _Before_ I showed up… as if I _never_ showed up." She ducked her head again, turning her gaze back down to her hands. "S-So, I understand if you want to lock me up or get rid of me. I would, if I were you. It's too dangerous to just leave me wandering about anyway."

The Doctor was quiet, thinking mostly. _Is she in denial? Is that what this is? But she honestly believes that she's from another universe with a television show about me. And with what happened with Rose and the parallel universes, it wouldn't be surprising if she got dragged through somehow, but a television show? As honored as I am, it_ is _still hard to believe._ He mentally shook his head. _No, no, no. That's not important. What matters isn't_ how _she got this foreknowledge, but how she's dealing with this. Let's see, twenty-seven she said? And if what she says is true…_ He looked at Kris, eyes soft as the woman waited with her head bowed for a response from him. _She's lost everything. Not just her home and her family, but her own body too. I know what it's like to deal with that better than anyone. But she's still so young…_

The Doctor stood up and Kris stiffened, closing her eyes and biting her lip in an attempt to stop it from quivering. But instead of what she'd thought was going to happen, the Doctor reached over and grabbed her in a hug. He pulled her close, holding her tightly as he sighed and quietly spoke in her ear.

"It must have been so hard." He whispered, feeling her body begin to shake as she fought back sobs. "Oh, Kris, I'm so, so sorry." He said as she clung to him and cried quietly. "And I'm going to help you as much as I can. I won't leave you alone. I promise. So just… Please don't say things like wanting to die. I'll help you through it. I promise I will. Okay?"

She nodded into his shoulder and pulled away, him giving her a reassuring smile as he handed her a handkerchief to wipe her face. It was then that he remembered something and rubbed the back of his neck with a nervous chuckle.

"Ah, now that we've solved that, I should probably apologize. You were unconscious for so long that I might have… taken Martha on another trip."

She looked at him, but he wasn't expecting the worried expression on her face. "Are you alright?"

He blinked. "Hm? Why wouldn't I be? I mean, there was a moment when Martha was taken, but everything turned out fine! Really. There were these flying cars and they were trapped in a sort of underground highway going in circles, but then we…" He stopped, seeing the small amused smile on her face. "Ah, you already knew that though, didn't you?"

She nodded. "Sorry. Kind of takes the fun out of things if I already know, but you can tell me anyway, if you want. I… kind of like it when you tell it."

He felt embarrassed at that and she apparently did too as they both looked away from one another with pink cheeks.

"But um, I meant afterwards. With Martha." Kris said then, and realization dawned on the Doctor.

 _She's worried about me? Just because Martha brought up my home planet?_ He looked at her and grinned, unable to not be happy and proud of the companion he'd picked up on a whim.

"You are _brilliant_."

Kris looked at him in confusion as he held out a hand.

"Come on then. I think you can deal with a new adventure, though if your chest starts hurting, let me know. I've got something you can take." He replied, tugging her out of the bed and to the closet where he passed her some clothes the Tardis picked out and lightly pushed her towards the bathroom. "Go on then. No time to waste."

She stopped though, in the doorway. "I'm sorry."

Now it was his turn to be confused. "Hm?"

She lowered her head, muttering it quietly, but he was still able to hear it before she closed the door. "That you're not okay…"

The Doctor's previous smile fell and his eyes stayed on the door, expression serious. _This is going to be difficult to deal with…_


	3. Mutant, Dalek, Pigs

Martha, the Doctor and I all walked out after he decided to show us something of the past and, though I was still a bit cautious of the Doctor now that he knew what was going on with me, I couldn't help but be amazed at the sight standing not too far away.

"Where are we?" Martha asked, having not seen it yet, and I couldn't quite get the words out as I stared up at the sight.

"Ah, smell that Atlantic breeze. Nice and cold. Lovely." The Doctor commented, before I tugged on his coat sleeve and pointed up at the Lady in shock. He seemed amused at my surprise and glanced over his shoulder at Martha as he ruffled my hair. "Martha, have you met my friend?"

Martha turned and gapped as well. "Is that… Oh my God. That's the Statue of Liberty."

"Gateway to the New World." The Doctor hummed as I scowled at him for messing up my hair again and began to try and fix it. "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free."

"That's so brilliant." Martha gasped. "I've always wanted to go to New York. I mean, the real New York, not the new, new, new, new, new one."

"Well, there's the genuine article. So good, they named it twice."

"Wasn't it called New Amsterdam? They only changed it to New York afterwards, yeah?" I asked, wanting to be sure that at least some of the history in this universe was the same as in mine.

"That's right. Though it's harder to say twice. No wonder it didn't catch on. New Amsterdam, New Amsterdam."

I raised a brow. "I think they would have just called it New Amsterdam, New York."

"Still. Not a very good ring to it." He shrugged as Martha pointed out something else.

"I wonder what year it is, because look. The Empire State Building's not even finished yet."

"Work in progress. Still got a couple of floors to go, and if I know my history, that makes the date somewhere around…"

"November first 1930?" I offered, looking over the newspaper I found nearby.

"You're getting good at this." He said, turning to me to find me waving the newspaper at him.

"No, I just know how to read."

He lightly tugged the paper from me as Martha hummed.

"Eighty years ago. It's funny, because you see all those old newsreels all in black and white like it's so far away, but here we are. It's real. It's now." She laughed, looking at the Doctor. "Come on, you. Where do you want to go first?"

The Doctor glanced at me and I stiffened, knowing what he'd seen on the paper, and wondering if this was him going to ask me about it. Going to demand answers that I couldn't give him. I took a hesitant step back, worried, but he just turned to Martha and showed her the headline.

"I think our detour just got longer."

"'Hooverville Mystery Deepens.' What's Hooverville?"

"A bunch of homeless living in Central Park after the Wall Street Crash." I rattled off as we took the Tardis to the park, and she looked surprised.

"What? They actually live in the park? In the middle of the city?" She questioned after having thought about that for a while; the group of us walking down a path in Central Park until we reached Hooverville itself.

"Ordinary people lost their jobs. Couldn't pay the rent and they lost everything. There are places like this all over America. No one's helping them. You only come to Hooverville when there's nowhere else to go."

I looked around, cautious of the suspicious eyes watching us, eyeing our decent looking clothing and judging the newcomers. I flinched when a hand landed on my shoulder, but looked up to see the Doctor giving me a reassuring look. It made me feel bad that I was having doubts about my trust towards him when he was trying to help ease my anxiety, but who wouldn't be nervous? Until he gave me a good reason to fully distrust him though, I would give him the benefit of the doubt. There wasn't exactly anyone _else_ I could trust, anyway.

"You thieving lowlife!" A shout cut through my thoughts and the Doctor stopped us to see a fight breaking out nearby.

We watched the two men punching each other and fighting until a man stepped out of his tent and separated them.

"He stole my bread!" One of the men accused and I remembered the name of the leader who was attempting to solve the dispute.

 _Solomon… Yet another life I have to watch get snuffed out._ I felt my chest ache and winced, rubbing at it for a moment and missing the Doctor catching sight of the action as Solomon managed to coerce the bread from the one man.

"We all starving. We all got families somewhere." He told the two, looking them both over before splitting the bread and handing a piece to either man. "No stealing and no fighting. You know the rules. Thirteen years ago, I fought in the Great War. A lot of us did. And the only reason we got through was because we stuck together. No matter how bad things get, we still act like human beings. It's all we got."

The two men, neither looking really pleased, shuffled off and the Doctor tugged me forward with him as he approached Solomon.

"I suppose that makes you the boss around here."

"And, uh, who might you be?" Solomon questioned, not recognizing us.

"He's the Doctor. I'm Martha, and this is Kris." Martha introduced us.

"A doctor, huh? Well, we got stockbrokers. We got a lawyer, but you're the first doctor. Neighborhood gets classier by the day."

"How many people live here?" Martha asked, looking around in concern.

"At any one time, hundreds. No place else to go. But I will say this about Hooverville. We are a truly equal society. Black, white, all the same. All starving. So you're welcome, the three of you. But tell me. Doctor, you're a man of learning, right? Explain this to me." Solomon gestured to the Empire State Building through a gap in the trees. "That there's going to be the tallest building in the world. How come they can do that, when we got people starving in the heart of Manhattan?"

The Doctor looked grim and we soon went after Solomon, where the Doctor pulled out the paper and showed it to him.

"So, men are going missing. Is it true?"

"It's true, alright."

"But what does missing mean? Men must come and go here all the time. It's not like anyone's keeping a register." The Doctor questioned as Solomon led us into his tent.

"Come on in. This is different."

"In what way?" Martha questioned, while I watched silently.

"Someone takes them at night. We hear something, someone calls out for help. By the time we get there, they're gone like they vanished into thin air."

"And you're sure someone's taking them?"

"Doctor, when you got next to nothing, you hold on to the little you got. Your knife, blanket, you take it with you. You don't leave bread uneaten, fire still burning."

"Have you been to the police?" Martha asked, but even I knew the answer to that.

"What are the police going to do?" I asked her. "Some homeless guy goes missing, no one will care." I glanced at Solomon, hesitantly. "No offence."

He shook his head. "None taken. It's true. Another deadbeat goes missing, big deal."

"So the question is, who's taking them and what for?" The Doctor mused.

"What are people needed for, is another question." I tacked on and the Doctor nodded in agreement, before a young boy poked his head into the tent.

"Solomon, Mister Diagoras is here."

Solomon did not look pleased and I could understand why. The man was trying to take advantage of the weak and was about as greedy as a man could get. It didn't take knowledge of the future to know that the man was bad news. We followed Solomon outside where said man was offering up a dollar a day to go work in the sewers to clear a path after a cave in. I knew it was a lie to get more pig slaves for the Daleks, but I bit my tongue and stayed silent. I couldn't let the Doctor know, no matter how angry he got. This was something I couldn't risk changing. Even Solomon, unfortunately. A man with as much power as him, who could gather people and lead Hooverville like that, who knows what would happen if he continued to live. Not that I was condemning him to death, but… _Maybe that is what I'm doing. Not with just him, but with everyone…_ I winced as another sharp pain went through my chest, not pleased that it only seemed to occur when I was thinking about things like this. _But there's really nothing I can do, and I hate it._

* * *

"Turn left, go about half a mile. Follow tunnel 273. Fall's right ahead of you. You can't miss it." Diagoras instructed the small ragtag group who'd chose to go into the sewers.

"And when do we get our dollar?" Frank asked, the young man from earlier who'd warned Solomon about Diagoras showing up.

"When you come back up."

"And if we don't come back up?" The Doctor asked, raising a brow in question, but also suspicion. He didn't like the look in Diagoras' eyes.

"Then I got no one to pay."

"Don't worry. We'll be back." Solomon said confidently, though Martha wasn't convinced.

"Let's hope so."

The group wandered off, but the Doctor and Kris stayed for a moment. The Doctor stared seriously at Diagoras, knowing something was up with the man, but he let it slide and turned to go.

"Come on, Kris." He said, taking her arm, but frowning as he caught sight of the depressed look she gave Diagoras. The Doctor waited though, until they were a bit further away, before questioning her. "You know something about this, don't you?"

Kris glanced at him briefly, but turned her gaze down to her feet. "I can't tell you anything."

The Doctor sighed softly. "I never asked you to." He stopped her, squeezing her shoulder. "I mean it, Kris. I won't ask. I know how time works and I know there won't be much you can tell me. If anything. But I don't want you punishing yourself for this either."

She watched him for a moment and he worried. She had so much she had to worry about with this information all tucked away in her head, and he already knew that it was tearing away at her. He just didn't want to see a smart, kind, young woman turn into something downtrodden and empty because she had to deal with this. Because she went and blamed herself for something out of her control. She needed to trust him, because he was all she had, and because he needed her too. He could help her, but she needed to open up to him, at least a little bit.

"Yes." Kris muttered then and the Doctor blinked, having been lost in his thoughts.

"Sorry?"

She sighed heavily. "I know what's going on here and what's going to happen… And you're not going to like it."

He stiffened at those words, not liking the way Kris had said them, but also feeling that he was one step closer to her too. So he couldn't help but smile, ruffling her hair, despite knowing that she didn't like it.

"Thanks." He replied, his grin growing as she gave him a confused and slightly frustrated expression while trying to straighten her short hair. "Now come on. They're going to start worrying up there if we don't catch up."

"A-Ah." She grumbled, taking his hand.

It surprised him slightly, but upon catching sight of her pink, embarrassed cheeks, he decided to just smile away like it never happened. Two _steps forward in the right direction, then._

"Allons-y!"

Once they caught up with the others though, the Doctor set about gathering his own answers.

"So, this Diagoras bloke, who is he then?"

"A couple of months ago, he was just another foreman." Solomon replied. "Now, it seems like he's running most of Manhattan."

"How'd he manage that then?"

"These are strange times. A man can go from being King of the Hill to the lowest of the low overnight. It's just for some folks it works the other way round."

The Doctor though, wasn't quite listening as he spotted something on the ground.

"Whoa!"

Martha pushed forward to see too, and grimaces at the glowing green brain-like object lying in the sewage on the path ahead of them. "Is it radioactive or something? It's gone off, whatever it is."

The Doctor knelt down and then picked it up, making Martha cover her mouth in disgust.

"And you've got to pick it up."

"Shine your torch through it." The Doctor told her and she obeyed as he looked it over. "Composite organic matter. Martha? Medical opinion?"

"It's not human, I know that."

"No, it's not. And I'll tell you something else." The Doctor said, standing up and looking around. "We must be at least half a mile in. I don't see any sign of a collapse, do you? So why did Mister Diagoras send us down here?"

"Where are we now?" Martha questioned. "What's above us?"

"Well, we're right underneath Manhattan."

"Let's go a bit more, just to be sure." Solomon offered and the group agreed, Kris grimacing as she spotted the Doctor putting the brain into his coat pocket.

"I hope you have a good dry cleaner." She muttered to the Doctor, who smiled.

"Don't need one. I've got the Tardis."

"Cheeky." She replied, though the Doctor could see her unease growing with every passing moment.

"Alright, just how bad is this? Scale of one to ten. Go on, humor me."

Kris winced. "Eight, maybe nine."

It was the Doctor's turn to wince then. "That bad then… Well, that's alright. Turns out well in the end, I'm sure."

"For some." Kris muttered, probably assuming the Doctor hadn't heard, but he did and her words made him worried.

"We're way beyond half a mile." Solomon called out then. "There's no collapse, nothing."

"That Diagoras bloke. Was he lying?" Martha asked and Kris scoffed as the Doctor hummed.

"Looks like it."

"So why'd he want people to come down here?" Frank asked and the Doctor turned to Solomon.

"Solomon, I think it's time you took these three back. I'll be much quicker on my own."

"Not happening." Kris said and the Doctor turned to argue with her, but caught sight of her looking down one of the paths.

He turned to look, just as a squeal echoed from that direction.

"What the hell was that?"

"Hello?" Frank called out, but Martha shushed him, knowing better than to call _out_ to something unknown in the Doctor's presence.

"Frank." Solomon scolded, not thinking it was a great idea either.

"What if it's one of the folk gone missing?" He argued. "You'd be scared half mad down here on your own."

The Doctor raised a brow at him. "Do you think they're still alive?"

"Heck, we ain't see no bodies down here. Maybe they just got lost."

"Or changed." Kris said under her breath, still keeping an eye on the path nearby.

There was another squeal and Solomon continued.

"I know I never heard nobody make a sound like that."

"Where's it coming from?" Frank asked. "Sounds like there's more than one of them."

"This way." The Doctor pointed out moving away from the group, but Kris grabbed his coat to stop him.

"No, that way." Solomon pressed, trying to get him to leave, but Martha's light caught sight of something huddled up against a wall nearby.

His curiosity couldn't resist figuring out what it was; simply grabbing Kris's hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze as he moved towards it.

"Doctor?" Martha called out cautiously as Solomon and Frank caught sight of it as well.

"Who are you?"

"Are you lost? Can you understand me? I've been thinking about folk lost down—"

The Doctor cut Frank off, stopping him from going closer. "It's alright, Frank. Just stay back. Let me have a look." He gave Kris a small smile and let her hand go, before heading closer towards it. "He's got a point though, my friend Frank. I'd hate to be stuck down here on my own. We know the way out. Daylight. If you come with us…" He trailed off, however when his light caught sight of the pig slave. "Oh, but what are you?"

"Is that a… carnival mask?" Solomon asked, but Kris shook her head.

"No. It's much worse than that."

"She's right." The Doctor nodded. "It's real." He turned back to the pig slave. "I'm sorry. Now listen to me. I promise I can help. Who did this to you?"

The pig didn't answer and Martha called out as she spotted shadows on the wall closing in.

"Doctor? I think you'd better get back here. Doctor!"

"Actually, good point." The Doctor replied, standing and backing up towards the group.

"They're following you." Martha informed him

"Yeah, I noticed that, thanks. Well then, Martha, Frank, Solomon, Kris."

"What?"

"Uh, basically… run!"

He grabbed Kris's hand and they bolted down the sewers as the squealing pig men chased after them. Martha soon stopped though, stuck with the decision of two pathways.

"Where are we going?!"

"This way!" The Doctor shouted, releasing Kris and moving to the head of the group as Solomon ditched the shovel he was carrying.

They ran past a passage, but the Doctor doubled back and called to the others.

"There's a ladder! Come on!"

He sonicked it open and Martha was quick to toss her light and hurry up after him, but Kris was fighting with Frank to keep him going.

"Frank!"

"Just get up the ladder!" Kris argued, shoving him towards it.

"I can hold them back!"

"It's five against one! If you would just get up there, we wouldn't _need_ you to hold them back, now go!"

Frank begrudgingly did so, hurrying up after Solomon, but pausing at the top of the ladder when he heard a grunt of pain. Kris had grabbed the first rung she could reach, but her other hand clutched at her chest in pain.

"Kris?" He looked behind her and spotted the pig slaves coming and paled. "Kris!"

Solomon grabbed Frank and pulled him up then, before reaching down towards Kris as the Doctor rushed over to do the same.

"Come on!" Solomon shouted and could see Kris attempting to get up the ladder, but when the Doctor came over, he paled.

"Kris! Kris, please! You can do it! You _have_ to make it!"

She couldn't though, and he was beginning to see that. Her breathing was ragged, her skin pale, and as hard as she was trying to push through the pain, she wasn't moving fast enough. Kris looked up at him though and the Doctor grew almost angry.

"Don't you dare. Don't you dare give up on me Kris!"

"S-Shut up." She managed, giving him a painful smile. "I'll be fine. Trust me. I'll see you in a bit."

She let go of the ladder and leaned against it, turning away from the Doctor as he shouted down after her and Solomon took that chance to close the manhole cover as the pig slaves converged on the area.

"We can't go after her." Solomon told the Doctor as he lunged at the manhole.

"We've got to go back down. We can't just leave her!"

"No, I'm not losing anybody else. Those creatures were from Hell. From Hell itself! If we go after them, they'll take us all! There's nothing we can do. I'm sorry." Solomon snapped, shoving him away and attempting to calm him down, before the group was interrupted by a woman stepping out with a pistol.

"All right, then. Put them up. Hands in the air and no funny business. Now tell me, you schmucks, what have you done with Laszlo?"

* * *

I grimaced in pain as the pig slaves shoved me forward to join a line-up of other people that walked through the tunnels being led by the pigs. I wasn't sure what was wrong with my heart all of a sudden, but I assumed it was the running that did it. Charlotte's body wasn't in decent shape to begin with and I doubted it enjoyed the torment I was placing on her heart. _My heart. God, will I ever look at this body as my own and not Charlotte's?_ I let out a soft whimper as my heart clenched and sent rivets of pain through my chest and ribs, as though a heavy weight was sitting on it the same time someone was stabbing me in the ribs. It was a pain that was hard to describe, but I hoped it would pass soon. _If I get scanned and the Daleks determine me no fit enough for their stupid little project, I'll get separated from the others and turned pig slave. I'd really rather that didn't happen, b-but I need a plan in case things turn to that. But what?_ I continued to try and think of something as we walk and I fought through the pain that made my breaths nothing more than ragged wheezes.

The walk seemed to last ages, with my heart acting up, but after a moment, it calmed down to a more tolerable level. It still hurt, mind you, but I wasn't wheezing as badly anymore and I could only silently hope these attacks wouldn't become a common occurrence. I heard some shouting up ahead and frowned, before spotting Martha with a pig slave in her face as she cowered away from it.

"Martha, thank God." I said, not as loudly as I'd hoped, but she heard me and looked over in relief.

"You're alive! Oh, I thought we'd lost you." She gasped out, hurrying over and hugging me, though I groaned in pain at the action.

"Y-Yeah, could you not? I seem to be having chest pains and the hugging's not helping."

"Oh my God. Are you alright?" She asked, looking me over and noticing that I looked physically ill.

A pig slave shoved my shoulder roughly forward though and she turned to snap at it.

"Alright! Alright. We're moving." She said, walking with my hand in hers, though I assume because she was talking my pulse. "Your heart rate's a bit thready."

"I've noticed." I breathed out, wincing when the pig slave gave another little shove. "I'm not in the best of shape and getting attacked by heart-stopping witches kind of takes a lot out of you."

"At least we can find out what's going on down here."

I knew that the Doctor, Tallulah, and Laszlo would catch up with us soon enough, but a part of me worried because it would be by this point that the Doctor would find out about the Daleks being involved. And that meant bad news for me, having known they were involved the moment we showed up. Our procession was brought to a halt then and Martha looked worried.

"I've got a nasty feeling we're being kept in the larder." She muttered and then the pig slaves started growing anxious.

Fear settled itself into my aching chest when a Dalek rolled out and demanded silence, making my already pale complexion grow paler still.

"What the hell is that?" Martha questioned.

"You will form a line. Move. Move."

Martha looked at me in concern, but I nodded and she tried to get the others to just listen to the creature.

"Just do what it says, everyone, okay? Just obey."

I winced at her choice of words as another Dalek showed up.

"Report."

"These are strong specimens. They will help the Dalek cause."

"Dalek?" Martha questioned.

"What is the status of the Final Experiment?"

"The Dalekanium is in place. The energy conductor is now complete." The second Dalek replied.

"Then I will extract prisoners for selection." The first said, scanning a man that a pig slave brought forward. "Intelligence scan initiate." It brought its plunger towards the man's face. "Reading brain waves. Low intelligence."

"You calling me stupid?" The man complained.

"Silence! This one will become pig slave. Next."

I closed my eyes as the man's screams of anger faded as he was dragged off, hoping that I wouldn't be another one to be dragged off. My breath hitched as a Dalek rolled in front of me, but I opened my eyes and faced it as confidently as I could muster. Though looking hate in the eyes was harder than I could ever imagine.

"Intelligence scan, initiate."

I fought back the urge to move away from the plunger, images of the scientist from Van Staten's museum getting his head crushed proving to be more than unpleasant now that I was being faced with the real thing.

"Alert!" It screeched out then, making me pale as it pulled its plunger away. "Superior intelligence and other worldly elements detected!"

"What?" Martha questioned, looking at me in shock as a pig slave grabbed a hold of me and yanked me forward out of the line.

"W-Wait! What do you mean other world elements?!" I yelped, panicked at this sudden change and the fact that just being scanned by the Daleks appeared to be my death sentence.

The Dalek ignored my question. "Further scans required to determine source of off-world elements. Prisoner will be brought directly to transgenic laboratory."

Martha started shouting as I was being hauled off, but I could hardly get any air into my lungs with the amount of fear coursing through me. _T-This wasn't supposed to happen. Why am I being brought to there without everyone else? They can't explain the off worldly elements, which means they don't know I'm from another universe and stuck in someone else's' body. Good, I suppose, but not good that I'm being separated. I hope the Doctor won't be far behind._

* * *

The Doctor and Laszlo easily snuck into the line behind Martha, who let out a breath a relief.

"Oh, I'm glad to see you."

"Yeah, well, you can kiss me later."

"Doctor, something was wrong with Kris. H-Her heart rate was all over the place and she was having chest pains and everything."

The Doctor grimaced. "She should have rested longer than she did. I'll have to look her over in the Tardis, but we've got to get to her first. I'm not liking how interested in her the Daleks are."

"But what did they mean, other worldly elements? I thought she was human."

"She is, but… well, I'll explain later. It's something she needs to tell you on her own. And we've got a bigger problem right now.

The group entered into another room that was set up like a lab with a smoking black Dalek up near the front.

"Report." The Dalek with them called out and another answered.

"Dalek Sec is in the final stage of evolution."

"Scan him. Prepare for birth."

"Evolution?" The Doctor questioned with a frown, looking around and feeling relieved when he spotted Kris not too far away looking unharmed, though pale as she stood between two Daleks.

"What's wrong with old Charlie boy over there?" Martha asked, gesturing to the smoking Dalek.

"Ask them."

"What? Me? Don't be daft." She scoffed, looking frightened.

"I don't exactly want to get noticed. Ask them what's going on."

Martha, feeling a bit of courage, nodded and stepped forward a bit. "Daleks, I demand to be told. What is this… Final Experiment? Report!"

The Doctor mentally rolled his eyes at that, but the Daleks did respond.

"You will bear witness."

"To what?" She questioned, calmer now.

"This is the dawn of a new age."

"What does that mean?"

"We are the only four Daleks in existence, so the species must evolve a life outside the shell. The Children of Skaro must walk again."

Just then, the smoking Dalek stopped and the casing began to open. Something was crawling out and once it stood up properly, the casing shut behind it and everyone stared in shock at the suited being.

"What is it?" Martha breathed out, but even the Doctor didn't have a clue as the one-eyed Dalek hybrid turned to her and spoke.

"I am a human Dalek. I am your future." Dalek Sec looked around. "These humans will become like me. Prepare them for hybridization."

The pig slaves grabbed the group of struggling people, Martha crying out as the Doctor snuck off and a Dalek shoved Kris forward.

"Report. This human prisoner is showing signs of other worldly elements."

Kris stiffened as Dalek Sec walked towards her and leaned down slightly to her height, reaching up a hand and brushing it over her face as she grimaced.

"We'll need a tissue sample to determine if she has the possibility of being processed successfully." It finally declared, standing straight once more as Kris's eyes went wide in fear.

Just then, music began to play and all eyes looked around for the source.

"What is that sound?" Dalek Sec questioned and the Doctor bounded out from his hiding place after setting down a radio.

"Ah, well now, that would be me. Hello. Surprise. Boo. Et cetera." He said while tucking his hands into his pockets.

"Doctor." Dalek Sec breathed out as a Dalek strolled forward.

"The enemy of the Daleks."

"Exterminate!"

"Wait!" Dalek Sec ordered and the Daleks paused as the Doctor watched them and hummed in curiosity.

"Well, then. A new form of Dalek. Fascinating and very clever."

"The Cult of Skaro escaped your slaughter."

The Doctor figured that much. "How did you end up in 1930?"

"Emergency temporal shift."

The Doctor winced with a hiss. "Ooh, that must have roasted up your power cells, huh? Time was, four Daleks could have conquered the world, but instead, you're skulking away, hidden in the dark, experimenting. All of which results in you."

Dalek Sec stood taller. "I am Dalek in human form."

"What does it feel like?" The Doctor asked, approaching him. "You can talk to me Dalek Sec. It is Dalek Sec, isn't it? That's your name? You've got a name and a mind of your own. Tell me what you're thinking right now."

"I feel… humanity." Dalek Sec said, turning away.

"Good. That's good." The Doctor mused, glancing at Kris and giving her a silent gesture to sneak away if she could.

"I feel everything we wanted from mankind, which is ambition, hatred, aggression and war. Such a genius for war."

"No, that's not what humanity means." The Doctor argued, buying Kris time to shuffle slowly away the behind the Daleks.

"I think it does. At heart, this species is so very Dalek."

"Alright." The Doctor gave in, having hoped he could get Dalek Sec to see something else, but he still had time. "So, what have you achieved then, with this Final Experiment, eh? Nothing! Because I can show you what you're missing with this thing. A simple radio."

He walked over to the radio he'd set down earlier, patting it and looking proud as Dalek Sec watched in confusion.

"What is the purpose of this device?"

"Well, exactly. It plays music. What's the point of that?" He questioned rhetorically, seeing Kris having made it behind the machinery and heading his way. "Oh, with music you can dance to it, sing with it, fall in love to it. Unless you're a Dalek, of course. Then it's all just noise."

He sonicked the radio, grabbing Kris's hand and tugging her along as everyone ran back into the sewers. He spotted Tallulah, who was looking rather lost and got her to join them, but he could feel Kris slowing down.

"Come on, Kris. Just a bit more!" He told her and she nodded, panting, but picking up the pace as the group went up the ladder out of the sewers, heading for Hooverville at a more relaxed pace once apparent that the Daleks weren't behind them.

He looked over at Kris though, who was wheezing and pale once more, clutching her chest with a small grimace of pain.

"You alright?"

She glanced at him and managed a small smile. "B-Been better."

"Once we get to Hooverville, I'll check you out and see if there's anything I can do here, but you'd be better off in the Tardis at this point. The dashing about is obviously not good for you when you're still recovering."

She frowned then, not looking pleased. "I'm not leaving you."

The Doctor stopped, watching the others to make sure they continued on before he placed his hands on her shoulders and looked down at her seriously.

"Listen, Kris. This isn't the same as before. Daleks are—"

"The embodiment of hatred." She replied simply, ignoring the Doctor's frown. "You think I don't know that? I _told_ you, I know things. Daleks being one of them. And yeah, I didn't think they were much, but…" She paused, losing the serious expression and shivering as she glanced away. "…I've seen what they can do. What they've already done. What they're going to do. I know they're dangerous. I'm just saying… I'm scared of them too. Terrified. But if there's one thing I know, it's that I'd rather be terrified together than terrified alone. And… honestly, if I'm alone in the Tardis, I'll go mad worrying about you and Martha." She admitted hesitantly, patting her chest lightly. "Not good for the heart."

The Doctor snorted, but relented. "Alright. You can stay, but you have to take it easy. Or, well, as easy as you can in this situation."

He went to walk on, but she grabbed his sleeve and stopped him once more, looking worried.

"You're not… You're not mad at me? About… the Daleks?"

The Doctor blinked, confused, before understanding dawned on him. "Oh! No, no, no. Well, a bit annoyed, but it's minor, really. You can't help what you know and telling me might cause quite a few problems later on in the future. So I understand, but… if there's something you can tell me, something minor like a hint or something, that would be nice. Though, I don't recommend it unless you're sure."

 _I'm curious to see what decision she'll make here. I don't know the full scope of her time sensitivity, but she may or may not be able to see what her decisions will do to the time line. She's quite the mystery._

"I… I don't know." She muttered after a moment. "It would depend on what was happening and… I don't want to say and then have everything screwed up."

The Doctor smiled, pleased with her cautious answer and he ruffled her hair as they moved back into Hooverville. "Then don't worry about it. Now come on. Let's get you checked out."

* * *

While the Doctor spoke with Solomon about the Daleks, I sat on a wooden barrel nearby with a soft sigh. I was feeling better now. The Doctor had given me something to help, but informed me that as soon as this mess was over and done with, he was going to have to look me over properly in the Tardis med bay. I was worried, having not liked the expression he made when using the stethoscope earlier, but there was nothing I could do now. I was stuck sitting and worrying about what he'd said earlier. _Hints? Can I do that? I already caused a mess by saving Peter back with the witches, but… how much can I actually give away without wrecking things?_ I rubbed my temples, feeling a headache coming on the more I thought about it. _I'll have to find some other time to think about this properly. As much as I enjoy being with the Doctor, it's the stressful and dangerous situations I'm having trouble with._ A whistle went off then and everyone began to go on alert as I grimaced. _Speaking of trouble…_

Squeals and screams rang out as people rushed off only to be brought back to the center of the camp where our group was stationed. I stood from the barrel, moving to stand behind the Doctor, though I gave Solomon a worried look. _I really can't save him. I can't._ I bit my tongue and closed my eyes, gripping the back of the Doctor's coat as gunshots rang out around us; the people of Hooverville shooting at the pig slaves. The Doctor pulled me beside him and wrapped his arm around my shoulders, and I spoke up softly.

"The Daleks are coming next."

I felt him stiffen and his eyes immediately went to the skies as we caught sight of one already approaching. The shooting stopped as all eyes went to the Dalek that floated above the town.

"It's the devil." A man said. "A devil in the sky. God save us all. It's damnation."

"Oh, yeah? We'll see about that!" Frank exclaimed, firing off a shot as the Doctor pulled away from me to stop him.

"That's not going to work!"

Sure enough, the bullet ricocheted harmlessly off its metal casing before more Daleks showed up and began attacking the camp. Those not gathered with us were blown away by the overpowered attacks and I could feel myself shaking, wanting to do something but knowing there was nothing I could do. _I'm only human._

"Stop it." I muttered, feeling my heart racing. "Please. Please, stop this."

"The humans will surrender." The Dalek before us commanded and the Doctor shouted at it.

"Leave them alone! They've done nothing to you!"

Solomon stepped forward then, but the Doctor grabbed him and tried to stop him.

"No! Solomon, stay back!"

He shoved the Doctor off though and faced the Dalek almost fearlessly. I could see him shaking though and clenched my fist tightly as I reminded myself again and again that he was one man I couldn't save. No matter what.

"I'm told that I'm addressing the Daleks, is that right?" He called up. "From what I hear, you're outcasts too."

"Solomon, don't!" The Doctor pressed, but Solomon glared at him.

"Doctor, this is my township. You will respect my authority." Solomon snapped, before calming himself and lightly pushing the Doctor away. "Just let me try." He took a deep breath and faced the Daleks once more. "Daleks, ain't we all the same? Underneath, ain't we all kin?" He tossed his rifle aside. "Right. See, I've just discovered this past day, God's universe is a thousand times the size I thought it was. And that scares me. Oh yeah, terrifies me right down to the bone. But surely it's got to give me hope. Hope that maybe together we can make a better tomorrow. So, I beg you now, if you have any compassion in your hearts, then you'll meet with us and stop this fight. Well? What do you say?"

The Dalek was silent for only a second before responding. "Exterminate."

I flinched when the blast went off, killing Solomon and burning the sight of his death in my mind. Screams went out all around me and Frank hurried over to him, crying, but I felt cold and numb. _I-I'm fine. It's not my fault. T-The Daleks killed him._ I tried to tell myself, but another voice cried out. _But I could have stopped this! I could have saved him! He didn't have to die! How can I stand here and allow this to happen?!_ I wrapped my arms around myself, quivering, before the Doctor's voice rang out loud and clear.

"Alright, so it's my turn! Then kill me! Kill me, if it'll stop you attacking these people!"

The Dalek above us shifted closer. "I will be the destroyer of our greatest enemy."

"Then do it! Do it! Just do it! Do it!" The Doctor shouted, slamming his hands against his chest.

"Exterminate!" The Dalek cried out, but the shot never came and the Dalek appeared to shuffle as it spoke with Dalek Sec. "I do not understand. It is the Doctor… The urge to kill is too strong… I… obey."

The Doctor looked confused. "What's going on?"

"You will follow." The Dalek commanded and Martha shouted from beside me, making me jump as she hurried towards him.

"No! You can't go."

"I've got to go." The Doctor told her. "The Daleks just changed their minds. Daleks never change their minds."

"But what about us?" Martha asked and the Doctor turned around.

"One condition! If I come with you, you spare the lives of everyone here! Do you hear me?!"

"Humans will be spared." The Dalek said. "Doctor, follow."

Martha went to his side as I stayed where I was at the head of the group of Hooverville people., still in shock and staring at Solomon's body.

"Then I'm coming with you." Martha pressed.

"Martha, stay here. Do what you do best. People are hurt. You can help them. Let me go. Oh, and can I just say, thank you very much." The Doctor smiled, taking her hand in his and winking, passing her the psychic paper before calling out to me. "Kris?"

I slowly turned towards him, feeling drained and his face seemed to fall before he gestured me over.

"Kris, come here."

I hesitated, glancing at Solomon one more time before trudging my way over to the Doctor, who looked at me before letting out a long sigh and pulling me into a tight hug.

"It's not your fault." He murmured. "I mean it. There was nothing you could have done and nothing I would have wanted you to do. Time needs to go as it should, even if it's painful."

I let out a shaky breath, nodding into his chest before he pulled away and gave me a soft smile.

"Wish me luck?"

I smiled a little. "You'll be fine."

"Ooh, was that a hint?" He teased and I snorted.

"You're too stubborn to die."

He messed up my hair, an action I felt I would miss, if I turned out to be wrong at some point in my prediction of things, before he started to walk off. When the Daleks didn't follow for a moment, I felt concern rising up.

"The unworldly human will also follow." One of the Daleks said, and I felt myself pale as the Doctor turned around in shock.

"What?" He questioned, before growing serious. "No. You said they would be spared that means Kris too!"

The Dalek wasn't one to give in though. "The unworldly human will be insurance to prevent the Doctor from fleeing and unworldly elements must be scanned for further analyzing."

A chill went down my spine at that, wondering what it meant by scanning and analyzing, as the Doctor continued to argue.

"No! She stays here or I'm not following you! Do you hear me?! She _stays_!"

 _The Doctor has to go._ My mind concluded in that moment. _We're wasting time. He needs as much time as he can before the lightning strikes or everything will fall apart. I need to do something._

"No." I said then, clearing my throat when my voice wobbled fearfully. "No, it's alright. I-I'll go."

"Kris." The Doctor breathed out, but I gave him a reassuring smile.

One that didn't feel as reassuring as I'd hoped.

"Really. It's fine. Let's just go."

He hesitated, but begrudgingly nodded and held out a hand to me. I took it and we were lead to the lab once more, though the Doctor leaned down and spoke softly to me.

"Did you know about this?"

I held back a wince. "I… I don't know anything about myself or what my actions will do. Just my being here has changed things. This included." I muttered. "I was never meant to be here in this universe. This is it trying to compensate, I guess."

"I'm sorry." He said back, giving my hand a squeeze. "I never meant for this to happen."

I couldn't help but smile a bit. "That's going to be your catch phrase if you're not careful."

He smiled a little in return, before we rounded the corner into the lab and he released me to charge forward and face Dalek Sec.

"Those people were defenseless! You only wanted me, but no. That wasn't enough for you. You had to start killing, because that's the only thing a Dalek's good for!"

Dalek Sec stepped forward. "The deaths were wrong."

The Doctor's anger fizzled out like a candle flame. "I'm sorry?"

"That man, their leader Solomon, he showed courage."

"And that's… good?" The Doctor questioned, looking more and more curious about Dalek Sec's change of heart, though I couldn't help but glance at the other Daleks around me nervously.

"That's excellent."

"Is it me, or are you just becoming a little bit more human?"

"You are the last of your kind, and now I am the first of mine." Dalek Sec said instead.

"What do you want me for?" He stopped and glanced at me. "And Kris."

Dalek Sec moved past the Doctor, the Daleks, and I. "We tried everything to survive when we found ourselves stranded in this ignorant age. First we tried growing new Dalek embryos, but their flesh was too weak."

"Yeah, I found one of your experiments. Just left to die out there in the dark." The Doctor snapped.

"It forced us to conclude what is the greatest resource of this planet. It's people." He said, before flipping a switch and allowing beds of people to be lit up and one brought down from above. "We stole them. We stole human beings for our purpose. Look inside. This is the true extent of the Final Experiment."

The Doctor lifted the sheet and looked at the man underneath while I stayed back by the machinery; spotting the Daleks looking at one another. "Is he dead?"

"Near death, with his mind wiped, ready to be filled with new ideas."

"Dalek ideas."

"The Human-Dalek race."

"All of these people. How many?" The Doctor asked, making me wince.

"We have caverns beyond this storing more than a thousand."

"Is there any way to restore them? Make them human again?"

"Everything they were has been lost."

"So they're like shells. You've got empty human beings ready to be converted. That's going to take a hell of a lot of power. This planet hasn't even split the atom yet. How're you going to do it?" The Doctor questioned, though I couldn't help but feel a bit angry at him for not having any apparent compassion for the thousands of people who'd been taken by the Daleks.

"Open the conductor plan." Dalek Sec ordered and a screen was brought up showing the Empire State Building.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. The Empire State Building. We're right underneath that. I worked that out already, thanks. But what, you've hijacked the whole building?" The Doctor asked, confused.

"We needed an energy conductor."

"What for?"

"I am the genetic template. My altered DNA was to be administered to each human body. A strong enough blast of gamma radiation can splice the Dalek and human genetic codes, and waken each body from its sleep." Dalek Sec explained as the screen changed from the AND to the sun.

"Gamma radiation? What are you. Oh, the sun. You're using the sun."

"Soon the greatest solar flare for a thousand years will hit the Earth. Gamma radiation will be drawn to the energy conductor and when it strikes—"

"The army wakes. I still don't know what you need me for." The Doctor finished for him.

"Your genius. Consider a pure Dalek, intelligent but emotionless."

"Removing the emotions makes you stronger. That's what your creator thought, all those years ago."

"He was wrong." Dalek Sec said, and the Doctor looked shock.

"He was what?"

"It makes us lesser than our enemies. We must return to the flesh, and also the heart."

The Daleks began to turn and I shivered as the Doctor questioned Dalek Sec further.

"But you wouldn't be the supreme beings anymore."

"And that is good."

"That is incorrect." A Dalek said then, making me jump and close my eyes as I cursed myself for the fearful action.

"Daleks are supreme." Another agreed, rolling past me.

"No, not anymore." Dalek Sec argued.

"But that is our purpose."

"Then our purpose is wrong. Where has our quest for supremacy led us? To this. Hiding in the sewers on a primitive world, just four of us left. If we do not change now, then we deserve extinction."

"So you want to change everything that makes a Dalek a Dalek." The Doctor concluded.

"If you can help me." Dalek Sec agreed. "Your knowledge of genetic engineering is even greater than ours. The new race must be ready by the time the solar flare erupts."

"But you're the template. I thought they were getting a dose of you." The Doctor questioned as they headed over to the table once more.

"I want to change the gene sequence."

"To make them even more human?"

"Humans are the great survivors. We need that ability."

"Hold on a minute. There's no way this lot are going to let you do it." The Doctor questioned, giving me a look to confirm his suspicions and I struggled to keep a neutral expression.

"I am their leader."

"Oh, and that's enough for you, is it?" He asked the other Daleks, who responded in kind.

"Daleks must follow orders."

"Dalek Sec commands, we obey."

"If you don't help me, nothing will change." Dalek Sec said then and the Doctor frowned.

"There's no room on Earth for another race of people."

"You have your Tardis. Take us across the stars. Find us a new home and allow the new Daleks to start again."

"When's that solar flare?"

"Eleven minutes."

"Right then. Better get to work." He said, agreeing to help and hurrying past me as I shuffled, but my movement apparently caught the eye of Dalek Sec.

"Keep the human in the other room until we are finished." He waved off and I stiffened as a Dalek rolled towards me.

"Hold on. She stays here, or I'm not doing anything." The Doctor said sharply.

"Tissue samples are needed for further analysis for otherworldly elements." The Dalek before me screeched to remind Dalek Sec of why he'd brought me here.

The Doctor though, took a threatening step forward. "Leave her be, or I'll make _sure_ that your plan fails."

 _The Oncoming Storm_. My mind supplied as I held back a shiver at the cold gaze the Doctor was sending Dalek Sec.

"Just leave her in the other room." Dalek Sec ordered the Daleks. "She's not to be harmed and will be brought back as soon as the Doctor has finished assisting."

"I _said,_ she stays here." The Doctor snapped, but Dalek Sec didn't budge.

"If you want them appeased, Doctor, then she will have to wait in the other room."

"Doctor." I piped up, making him turn to me with a frown as I held up my hands in surrender. "I don't mind waiting in the other room. I wouldn't be much help here anyway. It'd be better if I stayed out of the way for now."

He hesitated, but nodded giving in and allowing the Dalek that was closet to lead me away. That being said, I was terrified, because this was _not_ how things were supposed to go. _If I'm not in the room with the Doctor when he goes to make his escape, I'll be in big trouble._ The one Dalek was left with me for the duration of the Doctor's meddling, but I couldn't help but begin to pace.

"Cease your movements. You will be still." The Dalek ordered and I did as it said, but still fidgeted and bit my lip as a second Dalek rolled in.

The two seemed to have a silent conversation, before their eyestalks turned to me. My body went stiff as one rolled forward and the other waited by the door.

"W-What's going on?"

"A tissue sample will be extracted for further analysis." It declared.

"But Dalek Sec said you couldn't harm me. He ordered you to leave me be."

"Dalek Sec is no longer in control. Dalek Sec is an enemy of the Daleks." It declared as my back hit a wall and it extended its plunger towards me. "Extracting tissue sample."

"Doctor!"

* * *

An alarm went off and the Doctor looked around as the lights turned read and Dalek Sec frowned in confusion.

"What's that?"

"What's happening? Is there a malfunction? Answer me!" Dalek Sec ordered, but the Doctor hurried to the lines that they had just finished.

"No, no, no. The gene feed! They're overriding the gene feed!"

"Impossible. They cannot disobey orders." Dalek Sec argued, but a Dalek rolled over to the Doctor.

"The Doctor will step away from the controls."

"Stop! You will not fire!" Dalek Sec demanded, but the Dalek turned its weapon towards him instead.

"He is an enemy of the Daleks."

A second Dalek rolled up as well. "And so are you."

"I am your commander." Dalek Sec attempted. "I am Dalek Sec."

"You have lost your authority."

"You are no longer a Dalek."

The Doctor though, had expected the coup and had other things to worry about. "What have you done with the gene feed? And where's Kris?"

"The new bodies will be one hundred percent Dalek."

"No! You can't do this!" Dalek Sec shouted.

"Pig slaves, restrain Dalek Sec and the Doctor." The Dalek ordered and Laszlo grabbed the Doctor lightly, having stayed close by so he could help.

"Release me. I created you. I am your master!" Dalek Sec continued to argue, but the Doctor wasn't done yet either.

"Where's Kris?! What have you done to her?!"

A Dalek turned to him before turning to the door as Kris was brought it with a Dalek behind her. Relief flooded the Doctor, until he spotted her pale complexion and the way she stumbled and limped; a dark stain spreading down her leg.

"Kris!" The Doctor shouted as she was pushed towards him and he grabbed her. "Kris? What did they do?"

"T-Tissue sample." She breathed out, looking faint and the Doctor clutched her to him as the Daleks grew distracted by the approaching solar flare.

A chime behind them caught Laszlo's attention and he gestured to it with his head.

"There's the lift."

"After you." The Doctor muttered, bending and easily scooping Kris into his arms before they bolted for the open lift.

"The Doctor is escaping. Stop him! Stop him!"

The pig slaves were too late though and the Doctor had the lift going quickly as Laszlo clutched it chest painfully and Kris lay limp in his arms.

"We've only got minutes before the gamma radiation reaches the Earth. We need to get to the top of the building." He said, spotting Laszlo. "Laszlo, what's wrong?"

"Out of breath. It's nothing. We've escaped them, Doctor. That's all that matters." Laszlo replied, but a quiet voice reached the Doctor's ears.

"He's dying." Kris breathed out concerning the Doctor.

"And if we're not careful, you very well might be as well." The Doctor said, setting her onto the floor and leaning her up against the wall before reaching for her leg to check the damage. "You get yourself into far too much trouble."

Kris didn't respond, making his concern grow. _She always has a smart come back. Just how bad is this?_ He grimaced seeing a large bleeding wound on her thigh. _Not good. She's losing too much blood and with her heart having been acting up… I need to stop the bleeding._ The Doctor stood, picking her up once more as the lift opened up and Martha spotted him.

"Doctor!"

"First floor perfumery." He joked as Tallulah hurried over to grab Laszlo in a hug.

"I never thought I'd see you again."

Martha spotted Kris then as the Doctor laid her down on the ground nearby. "Oh my God. What happened?"

"Daleks did a rushed job of a tissue sample." He said bluntly, reaching up and taking off his tie before bundling it up and looking at Kris. "I need to stop the bleeding and it's not going to be pleasant."

Kris glanced at him, but nodded, clenching her teeth.

"I'm sorry." He muttered, before wrapping the tie tightly around her thigh.

A muffled whimper escaped from Kris, tears coming to her eyes. It was soon done though, and the Doctor wiped at the sweat that had collected on her brow. She was still pale, but he had staunched the blood flow and hoped that he could finish this adventure up quickly enough to take her to the med bay.

"I'm going to leave her to you. Make sure she's alright." He told Martha, who nodded before remembering the blueprints she'd found earlier.

"We've worked it out. We know what they've done." She said, showing him the blueprints. "There's Dalekanium on the mast, and it's good to see you too, by the way."

"Oh, come her." The Doctor grinned, grabbing her in a hug before spotting Kris pointing at the lifts.

His eyes widened and he very nearly dropped Martha as he hurried over to them, but it was too late. The pig slaves were coming up.

"No, no, no. See? Never waste time with a hug. Deadlock seal. I can't stop it." He grimaced.

"Where's it going?"

"Right down to the Daleks. And they're not going to leave us alone up here. What's the time?"

Frank checked his watch, having tagged along to help. "Uh, eleven fifteen."

"Six minutes to go. I've got to remove the Dalekanium before the gamma radiation hits."

"Gamma radiation? What the heck is that?" Tallulah asked, but the Doctor was busy looking out to see how he'd get up to the mast.

"Ooh, that's high. That's very—Blimey, that's high."

"And we've got to go even higher." Martha muttered. "That's the mast up there, look. There's three pieces of Dalekanium on the base. We've got to get them off."

The Doctor quickly turned to her. "That's not 'we', that's just me."

"I won't just stand here and watch you." Martha argued.

"No, you're going to have your hands full anyway. I'm sorry, Martha, but you've got to fight and keep an eye on Kris so that she doesn't lose any more blood or pass out, because she might just not wake up again."

"Doctor."

He turned to Kris and hurried over to kneel next to her. "Don't worry, Kris. I'll come back for you. I promise."

She looked at him and he was a little surprised to find her annoyed. "You don't need to promise me anything, y-you moron. Just be careful and don't try to rush it. You'll drop your sonic if you're not too careful."

The Doctor furrowed his brows, confused and she rolled her eyes tiredly.

"That was a hint."

"Oh… Oh, right!" He grinned, understanding dawning on him and he kissed her forehead. "Brilliant!"

She turned away with pink cheeks as he hurried to the ladder with a wink at Martha.

"See you in a bit."

Martha begrudgingly let him go and went to grab a pipe to use as a weapon against the pigs on their way up, but Kris grabbed her arm and stopped her.

"Don't."

"What? But we need to fight!"

"Use your brain, Martha. We're surrounded by scrap metal, but we'll stand no chance going up against however many pigs are in there with my down and Laszlo getting sicker by the minute. Use what we've got."

"Like what?!"

Lightning flashed in the background and Kris tipped her head towards the opening as Martha's eyes widened.

"Lightning. Oh my God, that's brilliant!"

* * *

I cringed as the cries of the pig slaves rang through my ears, not appreciating the smell of toasted flesh and Martha even understood what we'd just done.

"They used to be like Laszlo. They were people and I killed them."

"No." I muttered. "I had the idea, it was my fault they're dead. You shouldn't blame yourself. I knew this was going to happen when I told you about the lightning."

"No." Laszlo protested. "The Daleks killed them long ago."

I didn't argue, though a piece of me still believed that there could have been another way to stop the lift _without_ killing the pig slaves. _Smashing the controls, hacking the system, cutting a wire, something,_ anything _. Human or not, they were still living creatures. God, is this what it's going to be like every time?_

"What about the Doctor?" Martha gasped then, turning to me hopefully.

"Go. Keep an eye out for his sonic."

She nodded and hurried up the mast with Frank to check on him as I closed my eyes for a second. I was exhausted and my leg throbbed under the bandages, but I could still hear the pig screams and my own cries when the Daleks took a tissue sample; very nearly jumping to my feet when a set of hands clamped down on my shoulders.

"Whoa, there. You're alright." The Doctor said with a small smile, though it probably wasn't as reassuring as he'd hoped as he placed a hand on my forehead and his smile faltered. "AH, you've got a slight fever now too. Blimey, are you putting a time limit on me."

"Sorry." I murmured, cringing as he scooped me up into his arms and bounded with me and the others to the lift.

"Oh, it's alright. Can't predict your own future. Makes sense. Just gives me some more motivation." He hummed, smile returning as Martha piped in.

"What do you mean, predict the future?"

"Ah, right, didn't mean to let that slip." The Doctor muttered, but I lightly shrugged, tucking my head against his chest.

"You can tell her, I don't care."

"Well, then… Uh, Martha? Kris here is apparently from another universe where she gained significant knowledge of my adventures and can sort of predict the future." He explained as her mouth dropped open in shock.

"That's how you knew about the lightning…"

"You would have figured it out." I said tiredly. "I just sped the process up. Didn't want my presence to change anything."

She looked confused, but I was tired of talking and the Doctor said he'd explain a bit more later, but for now we headed into the theatre and the Doctor set me down in a chair where Laszlo collapsed beside me and the Doctor began scanning the room. _Or, well, broadcasting where we are, really._

"Martha, I want you to go and take Kris with you."

"No!" She exclaimed.

"I'm telling you to go. Frank can take you both back to Hooverville."

"And I'm telling you, I'm not going." She snapped.

"Martha, that's an order."

"Who are you then? Some sort of—"

"Enough." I said, loud enough to get their attention, but already feeling it draining my energy. "Look, we won't make it out of here with me and Laszlo like this. The Daleks are quicker than you think and arguing about it won't help, so please just—"

I was cut off as the doors opened then and the group of Dalek-humans stomped into the theatre, cutting off our exits.

"Oh, my God. Well, I guess that's them then, huh?" Tallulah commented.

"Humans, with Dalek DNA." Martha breathed out as the Doctor tugged Frank away from them.

"It's alright. It's alright. Just stay calm. Don't antagonize them."

"But what of the Dalek masters? Where are they?" Laszlo asked as I groaned.

"Front stage and center."

An explosion rang out then and the Daleks rolled forward with Dalek Sec crawling before them in chains.

"The Doctor and unworldly human will stand before the Daleks."

The Doctor stepped forward, leaving me, but I knew the Daleks might cause more problems if I didn't go, so I forced myself to stand and hobble after him.

" _Kris_." The Doctor chided as I slumped down in a seat below him.

"S-Shut up." I breathed out. "They might kill someone if I don't."

He begrudgingly said nothing more at that as the Daleks addressed him.

"You will die, Doctor. It is the beginning of a new age."

"Planet Earth will become New Skaro."

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Oh, and what a world. With anything just the _slightest_ bit different ground into the dirt. That's Dalek Sec. Don't you remember? The cleverest Dalek ever and look what you've done to him. Is that your new Empire, hm? Is that the foundation for a whole new civilization?" He questioned them as Sec spoke to them as well.

"My Daleks, just understand this. If you choose death and destruction, then death and destruction will choose you."

"Incorrect. We always survive."

"Now we will destroy our greatest enemy, the Doctor, and take the unworldly human to create even more powerful Daleks!"

"But the Doctor can help you." Sec tried.

"The Doctor must die."

"No. I beg you, don't."

"Exterminate!"

I cringed as Dalek Sec stood up to shield the Doctor from the Dalek's blast, turning my head away as I shuddered; feeling yet another burden weighing my shoulders down.

"Your own leader. The only creature who might have led you out of the darkness and you destroyed him." The Doctor muttered, turning to the Dalek-humans. "Do you see what they did? Huh? You see what a Dalek really is? If I'm going to die, let's give the new boys a shot. What do you think, eh? The Dalek humans. Their first blood. Go on, baptize them."

The Daleks seemed to like this idea and gestured to the Human-Daleks.

"Dalek humans, take aim."

"What are you waiting for? Give the command!" The Doctor ordered.

"Exterminate!" It shouted, but nothing happened.

"Exterminate!"

"Obey. Dalek humans will obey."

Martha look stunned. "They're not firing. What have you done?"

"You will obey. Exterminate." A Dalek ordered the nearest Human-Dalek, who turned to it.

"Why?"

"Daleks do not question orders." The other Dalek said.

"But why?"

"You will stop this."

"But why?"

"You must not question."

"But you are not our master. And we… we are not Daleks." The Human-Dalek announced as the Doctor explained.

"No, you're not. And you never will be." The Doctor told them. "Sorry, I got in the way of the lightning strike. Time Lord DNA got all mixed up. Just that little bit of freedom."

"If they will not obey, then they must die." The Dalek said shortly and it shot down the man as the Doctor hurried to me and pulled me down.

"Get down!"

"Exterminate! Exterminate!"

* * *

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Kris muttered under her breath, clinging to the Doctor who shushed her quietly, though he wondered why she was apologizing so adamantly.

Soon though, the shooting stopped; the two Daleks destroyed and the Doctor stood to calm the Not-So-Dalek humans.

"It's alright. It's alright. It's alright. You did it. You're free."

"I'm so sorry, Doctor." Kris said again and he turned to her with furrowed brows, before the Humans clutched their heads and screamed in pain as they collapsed.

"No! They can't. They can't. They can't!"

"What happened? What was that?" Martha asked in a panic.

"They killed them, rather than let them live. An entire species. Genocide." He hissed, turning to Kris angrily. "And you knew."

Kris didn't respond as eyes went to her huddled form on the ground and Laszlo spoke up then.

"Only two of the Daleks have been destroyed. One of the Dalek masters must still be alive."

"Oh, yes. In the whole universe, just one." He murmured, standing and bolting for the Dalek lab, not sparing Kris a look.

Martha turned to her though, looking worried as the young woman hoisted herself to her feet unsteadily and moved to the nearest Human.

"What are you doing? What did he mean?"

She didn't say anything, reaching down with a pained grimace and shifting the Human's hands into a more peaceful position and then moved onto the next one. Martha watched her, worried, before Laszlo let out a cough and Tallulah called her over. Immediately, Martha could tell something was wrong and she and Tallulah grabbed him and began the trek to the Doctor, without Kris. The Doctor, determined as ever despite Dalek Caan getting away, hurried through the lab to help save the partial pig slave who'd helped them so much.

"Laszlo, just you hold on. There's been too many deaths today. Way too many people have died. Brand new creatures and wise old men and age old enemies. And I'm telling you, I'm telling you right now, I am not having one more death! You got that? Not one." He said, shooing Tallulah off as he pulled out his stethoscope. "The Doctor is in."

* * *

The Doctor found me with the bodies of the Humans, just staring silently, and I trailed after him as he went back to where Tallulah and Laszlo were waiting for word on whether he could stay in Hooverville. It all worked out in the end, but even as Martha chatted with him to the Tardis, he'd yet to say a word to me and me to him. He was quick to set us off again, though I knew where he was planning on going, before he stopped us in the Vortex and turned to me.

"Med bay." He said simply and I hobbled after him as best I could without him looking back or trying to help me.

Once in the med bay, I hopped up ono the bed with some difficulty, panting heavily at the exertion and lying back on the bed with a hand draped over my eyes. The room felt overheated, but I assumed it was from my fever and I struggled to keep my mind from what the Doctor was going to tell me. It wasn't working though and I bit my bottom lip as a tear slipped through and trailed down the side of my face to land on the bed sheet. I didn't make a sound as the Doctor went about numbing and treating my leg, not knowing what I could say that would possibly justify not preventing a genocide, not informing him of the Daleks, of Dalek Sec's death, of Solomon's. So many lives had been lost today and I could feel every single one of them resting on my shoulders. _There was nothing I could do. There was_ nothing _I could do._ _I'm so sorry._

"Who are you?"

I pulled my hand away from my face, confused. "W-What?"

The Doctor glared heatedly. "Who are you? What game are you playing? Is your name even really Kris? Because I'm not going to let this slide any longer. People's _lives_ are at stake. _Were_ at stake." He grabbed my lower leg, making me stiffen at the look in his eyes. "Are you from UNIT? Torchwood? Who sent you here?"

"N-Nobody!" I cried, beginning to panic now. "I told you what happened!"

"And did you honestly expect me to believe that?" He scoffed, breaking my heart with his words. "A parallel universe where this is all a television show? I'll admit, it was a clever ruse, but you showing up from the future and playing _God_ with people's lives I will never overlook. What happened to day was _genocide_ , Kris, and _you're_ the one who made it happen."

"But the Daleks—"

"Oh, sure. The Daleks did the actual act, but you were the one who allowed it to happen. You could have stopped it, but you decided, 'Nah, let's just watch them go. They don't mean anything. They're just experiments. Who needs them?'"

"I never said that! I never even thought that!" I shouted, sitting up and feeling my vision shift. "You think I don't know what happened?! You think I don't blame myself, because I do! Solomon, Dalek Sec, the Human-Daleks, everyone! B-But what am I supposed to do?" My voice cracked, feeling that safety from being with the Doctor disappearing in a moment as the tight grip he had on my leg shifted closer to my injury. "I can't change anything. The plot has to go as it should o-or else everything will end up a disaster. You won't meet people you need to, you won't change people's lives, you won't learn from your mistakes and—"

"You are _not_ the one who decides how I live my life!" He shouted and I cried out in pain as hi hand wrapped around my injured thigh. "Who do you work for?!"

"Nobody!" I cried, tears of pain slipping down my face as I tried to pry his hand off. "P-Please! I-I've lost everything! I don't belong here! I-I didn't mean to hurt you! I-I just don't want to be alone! I thought you would understand!"

My vision began to grow fuzzy around the edges and dark as my breath caught in my throat and my fingers were too weak to get the Doctor to stop.

"P-P-Please." I murmured, vaguely feeling the Doctor jab something into my shoulder. "Please. I-I'm sorry. I-I'm so sorry… Please don't leave me alone…"

"Goodbye, Kris." He snapped, just before my body went slack and everything went dark.


	4. The Master and His Guard

He had to do it. The Doctor didn't know a thing about Kris, or Charlotte, or whoever she was. He'd grown attached so quickly and she took advantage of that. She'd played to all of his faults. Brave, intelligent, shy, quiet, a mystery, missing past, a puzzle to be solved. She was the perfect companion and it put him on edge how easily she was able to get to him. She was time sensitive, he knew that much. Most likely because she was from the future. She had to have been planted at the hospital because whoever she worked for knew he would be there and he wouldn't be able to resist another puzzle. The story she told about being from another universe only added to that, playing off his feelings for Rose and her being trapped in another world herself. The bit about him being a part of a television show was ridiculous though, that having been the part that kept him suspicious. That, and her extensive knowledge of how changes can affect time in the short and long run.

She shouldn't have been able to understand that to the extent that she did unless she was a time traveler herself. She had to have been trained, to know exactly what to say to get into his good graces, and he'd fallen for it for a while. Then came the Daleks. Then Dalek Sec's death. Then her apologies. The genocide was what broke the camel's back. She knew and did nothing but apologize. She said that much, but did nothing. No hints, no protests, just turning away so she wouldn't have had to look at what she'd done. What she caused. And when she didn't give in to his questioning, he knew he couldn't keep her with him.

So, he'd searched her thoroughly for a time travel device, ensuring that she couldn't return to whatever future she came from in order to report back to her superiors, only to find none. Then he made sure she'd be healed enough to survive with her leg injury, before dropping her off in London. He didn't care where. He picked a spot at random, waited until Martha was in the kitchen to grab a bite to eat, then dropped her off out of sight in an alleyway. She wouldn't cause any more trouble, he assured himself. _That's_ why he was doing this. So she could understand what she'd done wrong, live with it on her own, and keep from hurting anyone else. He'd given her a chance after the witches, and he never forgave after that. That was his rule. No second chances.

* * *

"Sir." I said blankly, eyes staring at the Master before me as he smiled and I repressed a shiver.

"Ah, excellent. Would you mind doing me a favor?"

"Whatever you need, sir." I responded.

"Drop by the Jones' for me and have them picked up."

"Yes, sir. On it."

I bobbed my head and left, gathering the few others I would need and climbing into the dark van. He'd already sent a few ahead of me to try and coerce Martha's mother into drawing the group of time travelers out, so I just needed to pick them up. I sniffed a bit, slightly annoyed at the smell of smoke on my clothes. I'd slipped back into the habit after the Doctor abandoned me and Charlotte's body was not one to end with just one cigarette. _The Doctor won't be pleased._ I mused silently, keeping my expression schooled into a blank one as I'd practiced for all those years. _A week of near starvation, a few months stealing and homelessness, nearly a year of saving up and training, and all for this. The year that never was. The Doctor didn't believe me back then. He thought I was someone out to get him. Oh, won't he be pleased to see who I'm working under now. Knowing him, he'll think it was my plan all along. The idiot._

I pulled the van up, being sure that I had on a helmet with mask and goggles so the Doctor wouldn't recognize me too soon, before I climbed out and began assisting hauling in Martha's father into the cage in the back. He shouted loudly into my ear, but then I was assisting in getting her mother in just as the grey car with Martha and the Doctor showed up.

"Martha! Get out of here!" Her mother shouted. "Get out!"

"Target identified." The blonde woman in charge of the other operation called out and I drew my weapon. "Take aim."

The car immediately pulled into reverse as she ordered us to fire and I did. Never once hitting the vehicle. It was all for show on my part. I knew nothing could be done at the moment and once the car had gone, the blonde gestured to me.

"Take them away."

I nodded and went to drive the vehicle back, setting the gun aside and giving Martha's parents a brief look before winking. Her father looked surprised, though her mother ignored it and scowled, proceeding to shout profanities at me as I climbed into the driver's seat and we headed back to the Master's main office. I escorted them into their cells later as well, being sure to catch their attention once the other guards went to wait outside.

"Listen to me." I said softly, pulling down the black cloth covering my mouth. "Don't talk, just listen. I'll help you and Martha as best I can from inside, but if either of you try to give me away, I will drop you like a rock. I've work hard for years to get to this position and I won't have my plan to fix this mess ruined because one of you decided that you were more important than the rest of the world. Got it?"

"B-But who are you?" Martha's mother asked.

"I'll tell you later, but not now. He's always watching."

I turned away then and walked out, knowing that I had to prepare for the other task the Master had assigned me. _Personal bodyguard. One of a number of them, but the one that sticks closest to his side for no other reason than the fact that I'm the best shield who wouldn't be missed. What a joke._

* * *

"First Contact cannot take place on any sovereign soil. To that purpose, the aircraft carrier Valiant is in route. The rendezvous will take place there at eight am. You're trying my patience, sir." The president of the US informed the Master, who just unzipped his mouth.

"So, America is completely in charge?"

"Since Britain elected an ass, yes. I'll see you onboard the Valiant."

The Master though, stopped him. "It still will be televised though, won't it? Because I promised, and the whole world is watching."

The president frowned. "Since it's too late to pull out, the world will be watching. _Me._ "

He walked back to his car and the Master spoke to his wife, ignoring the silent bodyguard behind them who'd never spoken a word more than what was needed.

"The last president of America." He hummed. "We have a private plane ready and waiting. We should reach the Valiant within the hour. My darling."

Another guard shuffled her along for the plane and the Master looked around; his eyes drifting over to where the Doctor, Martha, and Jack stood, but passing them by without a second thought.

"Sir, the vehicle with the Jones' will be here in a second." His bodyguard said and the Master grinned, leaning over to grin at the young woman he'd hired.

"Ooh, I'm excited. Aren't you, Charlotte?" He asked, not surprised to see blank eyes staring back; as cold as ever.

"Indifferent." She replied honestly and he chuckled, smacking her arm in a friendly manner.

" _Love_ that mouth of yours. So brutally honest without all the unnecessary chatter. I wish more people were like you."

The vehicle rolled up then and the Master laughed as the back doors opened and he went over to mock Clive and Francine as they were brought out.

"Hi guys!"

"You can't do this." Clive snapped.

"All will be revealed." The Master grinned away as 'Charlotte' pulled Clive back to his guard who put them into the car that would take them off to the Valiant.

It wasn't long before dawn broke and everyone was getting ready for the big speech; the Master, Lucy and Charlotte heading over to the president.

"Anything I can do? I could make the tea, or isn't that American enough? I don't know. I could make grits. What _are_ grits, anyway? Do you know, Charlotte?"

Charlotte blinked at him. "Ground corn that's made into a sort of porridge served with breakfast meals."

"Sounds disgusting." He wrinkled his nose and the president interrupted.

"If you could just sit."

The Master made a face, but did as he said while Charlotte went to stand behind the two by the wall.

"According to the treaty, all armed personnel are required to leave the flight deck immediately." The president announced, but spotted Charlotte not moving. "That includes your personal bodyguard, Saxon."

The Master grinned, tossing a hand out her way. "Ah, but she's not armed. You're welcome to check."

The president scowled, but nodded for two people to do so, but they came up empty-handed, so he grit his teeth and begrudgingly allowed it. The Master offered Charlotte a jelly baby and she paused, but took one when he insisted. It wasn't long before the president gave his speech; the Doctor, Martha, and Jack sneaking in the back. The Toclafane showed up then, drawing everyone's attention to the three floating alien orbs.

"My name is Arthur Coleman Winters, President Elect of the United States of America, and designated representative of the United Nations. I welcome you to the planet Earth and its associated moon." The president said, but the Toclafane didn't seem to care.

"You're not the Master."

"We like the Mister Master."

"We don't like you."

Knowing he was on television around the world, the president tried to save face. "I can be master, if you so wish. I will accept mastery over you, if that is God's will."

"Man is stupid." The Toclafane replied.

"Master is our friend."

"Where's my Master. Pretty please?"

"Oh, alright then. It's me." The Master called out, getting up with a grin. "Tada! Sorry, sorry. I have this effect. People just get obsessed. Is it the smile? Is it the aftershave? Is it the capacity to laugh at myself? I don't know. It's crazy."

The president scowled. "Saxon, what are you talking about?"

The Master grew serious then. "I'm taking control, Uncle Sam. Starting with you. Kill him."

He was killed on the spot as people panicked and guards drew their weapons, including a pistol that Charlotte had kept hidden; moving over closer to the Master as he laughed and clapped cheerfully.

"Now then, peoples of the Earth. Please attend carefully." The Master demanded, before the Doctor charged forward.

Three guards grabbed him and the Master grinned.

"We meet at last, Doctor. Oh, ho! I love saying that."

"Stop it. Stop it now!" The Doctor ordered.

"As if the perception filter's going to work on me." The Master mocked, looking over at Martha and Jack. "And look. It's the girlie and the freak, although, I'm not sure which one's which."

Jack charged forward with a yell, but before the Master could pull out his laser screwdriver, Charlotte had stepped forward and slammed an arm across Jack's neck; closelining him to the ground. The Master pouted.

"You didn't even let me use my laser screwdriver." He whined, giving the Doctor a look as he held the object up. "Who'd have sonic? Ah well. The good thing is, he won't be down for long. I can kill him again and again!"

"Master, just calm down." The Doctor pressed. "Just look at what you're doing. Just stop. If you could see yourself—"

"Oh, do excuse me. Little bit of personal business. Back in a minute." The Master cut him off, speaking to the film crew and turning to the guards that held the Doctor. "Let him go."

The Doctor was shoved forward as the Master descended the stairs towards him.

"It's that sound." The Doctor pressed. "The sound in your head. What if I could help?"

"Oh, how to shut him up? I know. Memory Lane. Professor Lazarus. Remember him and his genetic manipulation device? What, did you think that little Tish got that job merely by coincidence? I've been laying traps for you all this time. And if I can concentrate all that Lazarus technology into one little screwdriver? But, ooh, if I only had the Doctor's biological code. Oh, wait a minute, I do." He grinned, opening a briefcase on a table nearby and adjusting the settings on his sonic. "I've got his hand. And if Lazarus made himself younger, what if I reverse it? Another hundred years?"

The Master lifted his sonic, aiming it at the Doctor and making him scream as he forced him to grow older. Jack had turned to Martha though, trying to get her to teleport away, but Charlotte surprisingly stopped them quietly.

"You can't. Not just yet."

"W-What?" Martha breathed out, but the blue eyes that looked down at her seemed so familiar.

The screaming stopped then and Charlotte whispered under her breath.

"Go to him. Quick."

She hurried over as she'd said and held the now older man as the Master cooed.

"Ah, she's a would be Doctor. But tonight, Martha Jones, we've flown them in all the way from prison."

Her family was pushed through the doors, Francine crying and apologizing, before the Doctor spoke up; panting from the ground.

"The Toclafane. What are they? Who are they?"

The Master knelt down to him. "Doctor, if I told you the truth, your hearts would break."

Said Toclafane appeared then, hovering above the Master.

"Is it time? Is it ready?"

"Is the machine singing?"

The Master checked his watch. "Two minutes past. So, Earthlings. Basically, um, end of the world. Here come the drums!"

Music began to play as the Master rushed to the window and Lucy began to dance; neither seeing Charlotte kneel down to Jack.

"Put in the coordinates for the Vortex Manipulator for Martha. Quickly."

"Why should I trust you?" He snapped.

"Because I know who you are, Jack Harkness, and I know how this ends. And I will do everything in my power to make sure it's more pleasurable for you that it would have been otherwise."

He hesitated, but nodded, putting in the coordinates and passing her the Vortex Manipulator. She took it gratefully, slipping over towards where Martha and the Doctor were stealthily as the Master called out to the Toclafane and shut off the music.

"Down you go, kids! Shall we decimate them? That sounds good. A nice word, 'decimate'. Remove one tenth of the population!"

Charlotte shifted to stand in front of the Doctor and Marth, reaching down behind her back and tapping the other woman with the Vortex Manipulator.

"It's already set and ready to go, but be careful, Marth Jones." She said quietly. "Don't forget that you're a doctor too, and I will do everything in my power to ensure that your family is safe and well taken care of."

"W-Who are you?" She asked and Charlotte turned with the smallest hint of a smile.

"An old friend."

Seeing that she wasn't going to get an answer more than that, Martha stood and took one last look at her family before vanishing. Charlotte turned to the Doctor then, who watched her cautiously.

"I'm sorry, Doctor, but there was no other way. She's going to change, more than you could ever imagine, but if I took her place, it would be much, much worse. And I know you don't trust me and you don't believe me at all, but…" She looked away. "I've stopped caring about that. I got tired of trying to impress you."

He frowned, confused, but the Master called down excitedly.

"Charlotte! Bring him up here, would you?"

She nodded and helped the Doctor up, looking as though she was being rough, but actually being quite gentle with him as she whispered in his ear.

"It's going to be a long year, Doctor. But I'll try to make it better."

* * *

The Master was getting frustrated. Something was going on in his ship and he couldn't pinpoint the issue. He'd caught some of his prisoners actually looking _happy_ on the cameras. The Jones', Jack Harkness, and even the Doctor looked like he had something on his mind distracting him from the Master; who was growing angrier every time he found something wrong. Jack getting a second meal within an hour of the last. A new pillow in Tish's room. A different recipe for tea that Francine served that didn't _actually_ taste bad. Clive not getting his early morning wakeup call until a few hours later than usual. He even caught the Doctor reading a book that had appeared out of seemingly nowhere.

This had gone on for half a year now and every time he tried to track down who was doing it, he'd get sent in circles. One guard said Charlotte ordered him to, another said someone else told him to, and Charlotte herself said she'd gotten word from another. So he tightened security. Orders were to come directly from him only. More guards were patrolling. Charlotte oversaw everything from there, but it kept happening. At eight months, he decided to check everything himself one day and he finally caught it. It was small. A tiny blip on the security feed, but he found that they'd been hacked and someone was repeating the video. Upon tracing it back, white hot anger welled up in him and he summoned the person responsible to the flight deck alongside all those they'd assisted. The Jones', Jack, and the Doctor were all in the room and then the final player entered as calm and silent as they always were.

"What can I do for you, sir?" They said, and the Master smiled innocently, walking over and looking into her blue eyes.

"Are you armed today, Charlotte?"

She nodded. "Always, sir."

He nodded, holding out his hand. "Give me your weapon."

He had to admit slight surprise as she passed it over without hesitation. _She's either an expert at deception, or has no idea I'm suspicious of her._ The Master took the pistol and tuned away, humming as he looked it over; taking out the magazine and replacing it upon seeing that it was fully loaded.

"You know, Charlotte, I liked you." He mused. "How long has it been since I picked you up? Fourteen, fifteen years?"

"Fifteen, sir." She replied and he nodded, tipping his head up to look at the ceiling.

"Fifteen years since I found you wandering the streets in the search for your next meal. You were so bitter back then. I could tell. Someone made you angry. Furious enough to nearly give up. And I thought, ooh, what an asset you could be. With the right skills I could train you up to be the greatest. All that potential… _wasted_."

The Master whipped around and fired off a shot that hit her in her leg. She fell to her knees and clutched the damaged appendage as the Master stormed over and placed the pistol right up against her head with a snarl.

"Take it off." He snapped and she slowly reached up and removed her helmet, pulling down the cloth mask covering the lower half of her face as well.

The Doctor's breath hitched upon catching sight of her and the Master glanced at him.

"Friend of yours?"

"No." Kris said bluntly, making the Doctor wince. "I am no friend of his, but he will always be a friend of mine."

The Master frowned, not appreciating the riddle, and chose to move things back on task. "Well, you certainly seem friendly enough. It took me a while to notice it and even longer to track you down. You're quite the clever one, aren't you?" He smirked, turning to the Doctor. "Don't know how you managed to lose this one, Doctor. She's managed to sneak around me for eight months! A pillow here, a book there, an extra meal or two, and no way to trace it back. She had me running in circles trying to find the mastermind behind the gift giving. Shame she hacked the camera feeds, or I might never have found her. I'm quite handy with computers, you see."

"You were going to find me eventually." Kris replied. "I lasted longer than I thought."

The Master frowned, seeing no fear in her eyes despite him having shot her once and still aiming the gun at her person.

"What else have you done?" He pressed, tightening his grip on the weapon in his hands. "You must have done something else."

"No. Nothing else." She denied and his anger flared.

"Do _not_ lie to me. What else did you do?"

"Nothing." She repeated and he pistol whipped her, knocking her to the ground and kicking her harshly in the stomach.

"Tell me what you did! Right now! Tell me, because there's no way you risked yourself just for that. Just for these peasants."

Kris pushed herself up onto her hands and knees, grimacing as she grabbed at her gunshot wound to try and staunch the bleeding once more.

"Is that so hard for you to believe?" She muttered, making the Master scowl as she tried to get up on her feet. "You said so yourself. I'd given up. I didn't even have to try and do this mess. I could have just ended it in an alleyway somewhere, but I thought—if anything—I should go out with a bang. Show him what he'd done by leaving me." She said, not even looking at the Doctor, who'd started to understand. "Show him that _he'd_ done this to me. Made me this person. I wanted to be there and make him guilty; to see his face when he realized it. I was just so angry."

"Kris…" The Doctor croaked out, feeling his hearts beginning to break at her words as she stood up as straight and tall as she could with her injuries.

"I considered it. For a long while, I thought about doing that, but then… I thought how great it would be if I proved him wrong. If I could prove to him that I was so much better than he'd even considered. Not because I wanted him to take me back, but because I wanted to prove to myself that I _am_ a good person, despite what he'd said. That even after everything that's happened, everything I caused or inadvertently caused…" She looked over at the Doctor with a proud smile. "…I am _just_ as brilliant as the Doctor."

The Master scowled, stepping forward threateningly. "So what? You still got caught! You're stuck here and there's nothing you can do! What's to stop me from killing you, right here, right now?"

Kris looked at him, blank expression back in place, and she shrugged. "Nothing. You could shoot me dead right now, if you want."

The Master grinned, leveling the pistol, but she spoke again.

"Well, you _could_ , though I wouldn't recommend it. Not when I've got something you might be interested in."

The Master scoffed. "What do you have that could _possibly_ interest me?"

"Information." She said simply.

The Master lowered the gun a fraction. "I'm listening."

"If you can promise me that the Jones' will be able to live here comfortably along with Jack, and you give the Doctor a proper place to sleep while allowing me to visit and make sure that promise is kept and done properly, then you can do whatever you want with me." She said, spreading her arms out. "I won't even resist."

"Kris!" The Doctor scolded, but neither she nor the Master paid him any attention.

"And why should I care about you?" The Master asked, looking her over curiously.

"Because… I'm not from this universe."

* * *

The Doctor didn't know what to think. None of this was supposed to happen to her, to Kris. He'd dropped her off to keep her away, but instead, he'd nearly killed her. She said she'd nearly killed herself because of him and that was devastating. And now here she was, sneaking into the Master's hands and _still_ trying to help. She was supposed to have been an enemy of his. A time agent or some such thing, but the Doctor was starting to believe that he was wrong. That he'd just gotten rid of someone time sensitive who was struggling with the guilt of having to let people die in order for time to go as it should. Perhaps, he wondered, everything she said was true. She was from another world, where his life was displayed as a television show, and she died and ended up in someone else's body only to bump into him and try to help. If only to staunch some of her own feelings of loneliness. And when that possibility came to mind, the Doctor's guilt tripled, especially as the months went by.

He was given a cot to sleep on with a blanket, as Kris had demanded, and Francine, Clive, and Tish were able to stay together in a decently furnished room. He'd even been told that Jack had his own room, though he was trapped in it just like he'd been before, except not in chains and with three meals a day. A few weeks passed then, before Kris was allowed to check up on them and the Doctor cringed when she got around to him. She'd simply checked to make sure he had a proper place to rest, before leaving, but he could already see the changes in her. Even when he'd first seen who it was, he'd been stunned by her transformation. Dead eyes, blank expression, muscular and lithe from extensive training, yet slimmer than she should be. And if she hadn't been a dead man walking, she certainly was now.

She'd offered herself up to the Master with open arms, only to make being trapped by the man on the Valiant more tolerable for him and the others. Her first check wasn't too bad. She'd looked a little paler and limped because of her leg, but remained quiet and cold; which was expected. Then came the next check and the next, then she was gone for a few weeks, only to come back in worse shape than ever before. He wanted to help her, to say something to her, but he felt he didn't have the right after what he'd done. After he'd abandoned her on false accusations. He'd never get her trust back, so what could he possibly do to help comfort her? The worst was after eleven months.

She'd stumbled into the room, panting and pale with bandages littering her form, but forced herself to head towards him and collapsing on his wheelchair that the Master used to push him around. Her hands shook and gripped at the arms of the chair, and the Doctor finally got the courage to reach out and touch her; only for her to flinch back. He stopped, looking into those eyes that threatened him with bodily harm should he try again, but she wasn't really seeing him. The Doctor didn't know what the Master had been doing to her, but the evidence was plain on her face. She was being tortured for him. _Because_ of him. And he remembered what had happened when he'd spoken to her after what happened with Shakespeare; the scared, frightened woman who'd broken down after holding it in for so long.

" _I-I don't want you to look to me every time something's going wrong! I don't want to be used! I don't want to be thrown away o-or tortured for what I know! I don't want to see people die and know that it is always going to be my fault! A-And I don't want you to get hurt b-because of me! I-I don't want to get hurt anymore. I-I just… I-I never wanted this. I'd rather be dead. W-Why couldn't I have just stayed dead?"_

And he looked at her now, wondering if that young woman was still in there somewhere. Or if—because of his actions, of him throwing her out of the Tardis—she was gone. To be replaced with this cold, calculating and broken figure in front of him.

"I'm sorry." He breathed out, risking grabbing her bandaged hand again and giving it a small squeeze. "I am… so, so sorry."

She pulled her hand out of his though, standing again and making to leave, crushing the Doctor's hopes, only to speak over her shoulder.

"One more month."

He started, looking over at her in surprise.

"One more, so don't try and get it; the screwdriver." She said, surprising him once again with how much she knew. "You won't be able to use it and… she'll be back soon. Then this will all be over."

And the Doctor watched her go, letting out a deep sigh as he buried his face in his hands.

"What have I done?"

* * *

"They say Martha Jones has come back home." The Master hummed, drawing the Doctor out of his thoughts and making him turn to the man. "Now, why would she do that?"

"Leave her alone." The Doctor replied simply.

"But you said something to her, didn't you? On the day I took control. What did you tell her?"

"I have one thing to say to you. You know what it is." The Doctor said quietly and the Master scowled.

"Oh, no you don't." He snapped, shoving the Doctor away before clapping his hands loudly. "Come on, people! What are we doing? Launch day in twenty-four hours. Ah, and bring in dear Kris. She hasn't been able to check up on the old man in a while."

 _A month._ The Doctor corrected in his head, hoping that she was alright, though his hopes were dashed when she was brought in and tossed to the ground in front of the Master.

"Stand up." The Master ordered and the Doctor watched as Kris painfully got to her feet; swaying on the spot and looking ill, but determined. "Ah, loyal to the end. Do you want to know what I've found out about our little universe hopper, Doctor?"

The Doctor said nothing, but couldn't help being curious. Kris had always been a mystery to him and all the scans said she was an unknown species. He wondered what the Master could have discovered; through what means, however, is what upset him.

"Ooh, she was tricky, I'll tell you that." The Master mused. "Had to take blood samples, tissue samples, DNA samples, the whole wazoo. And all anything ever told me was that she was an unidentifiable species. So I dug a little deeper."

The Doctor didn't miss the twitch of Kris's eye at that, anger building up in him over what the Master had done.

"You see." He said, getting up and prowling around Kris. "To get through from one universe to another someone would have to pass through the void. Doing that without a capsule is virtually impossible, _however_ , little Kris here did it. And in doing so, she's been altered. Her DNA isn't human any more. It's changing into something else. Something different. Isn't that curious? She's a little anomaly."

"Don't you have something you should be doing?" Kris grumbled, voice raspy.

"Ah, yes. Thank you for reminding me. I've got a message for Miss Jones." He grinned, bounding over to one of the cameras. "My people. Salutations on this, the eve of war. Lovely woman. But I know there's all sorts of whispers down there. Stories of a child, walking the Earth, giving you hope. But I ask you, how much hope has this man got?" The Master asked, moving to stand behind the Doctor. "Say hello, Gandalf. Except he's not that old, but he's an alien with a much greater lifespan than you stunted little apes. But what if it showed? What if I suspend your capacity to regenerate? All nine hundred years of your life, Doctor. What if we could see them?"

"I'm sorry." Kris said then, drawing their attention to her, but the Master rolled his eyes and aimed his sonic at the Doctor; making his convulse once more.

"Older and older and older. Down you go, Doctor. Down, down, down the years." The Master hummed, before stopping and looking down towards the pile of the Doctor's clothes. "Doctor."

The Doctor crawled out then, nothing more than a small, big-eyed alien creature and the Master turned to the camera.

"Received and understood, Miss Jones?" He shut off the transmission and turned to a guard. "Get me a cage for the man."

"No." Kris said sharply. "We had a deal. He gets a proper bed."

The Master stalked over, looking cross. "You're not in the position to make demands, Kris."

But before he could react, Kris's hand snapped out and grabbed his tie, wrapping it around his neck and pulling him up against her as the guards drew their weapons and the Master held his hands up.

"I think you'll find, you will like it better when I cooperate." Kris said, surprisingly calm.

"Hm, always loved that _bite_ of yours, dear. Very well. I'll leave him be for now."

She released him and was quickly slammed on the ground when his elbow connected with her jaw. He beat at her for a while, before huffing and straightening his tie.

"I hope you take that as a warning, Kris, and don't threaten me again." He hummed, turning to a guard. "Chain her up by the old man. I want her around when Miss Jones comes by."

* * *

"Citizens of Earth, rejoice and observe." The Master called out with a grin as Martha was brought in to join his group of prisoners. "Your teleport device. In case you thought I'd forgotten."

Martha tossed him her Vortex Manipulator as he frowned.

"And now, kneel." He commanded and she did so. "Down below, the fleet is ready to launch. Two hundred thousand ships set to burn across the universe. Are we ready?"

" _The fleet awaits your signal. Rejoice!_ " A man replied.

"Three minutes to align the black hole converters. Counting down." The Master hummed, turning to a countdown clock. "I never could resist a ticking clock. My children, are you ready?"

" _We will fly and blaze and slice!_ " The Toclafane chanted.

"At zero, to mark this day, the child Martha Jones, will die. My first blood. Any last words? No? Such a disappointment, this one. Days of old, Doctor, you had companions who could absorb the time vortex. Though, I suppose Kris is about as close as you'll get to that. This one's useless." He aimed his screwdriver at Marth. "Bow your head. And so it falls to me, as Master of all, to establish from this day, a new order of Time Lords. From this day forward—"

Martha chuckled then, making the Master frown.

"What's so funny?"

"A gun."

"What about it?"

"A gun in four parts?" Martha questioned him.

"Yes, and I destroyed it." The Master snapped, frowning.

"A gun in four parts, scattered across the world? I mean, come on. Did you really believe that?"

"What do you mean?"

"As if I would ask her to kill." The Doctor muttered, making the Master frown at the small man tucked against Kris's side.

The woman herself was unconscious with fever, so the Master had no need to worry about her.

"Oh well. It doesn't matter. I've got her exactly where I want her." The Master mused, but Martha continued to argue.

"But I knew what Professor Dorcherty would do. The Resistance knew about her son. I told her about the gun, so she'd get me here at the right time."

"Oh, but you're still going to die."

Martha raised a brow. "Don't you want to know what I was doing, travelling the world?"

"Tell me." He shrugged, sitting on the steps to listen.

"I told a story, that's all. No weapons, just words. I did just what the Doctor said. I went across the continents all on my own. And everywhere I went, I found the people, and I told them my story. I told them about the Doctor. And I told them to pass it on, to spread the word so that everyone would know about the Doctor."

The Master scoffed. "Faith and hope? Is that all?"

"No, because I gave them an instruction, just as the Doctor said." Martha replied, standing confidently. "I told them that if everyone thinks of one word, at one specific time—"

"Nothing will happen." The Master cut her off, standing again. "Is that your weapon? Prayer?"

"—right across the world." Martha continued. "One word. Just one thought at one moment, but with fifteen satellites."

"What?" The Master gaped, understanding beginning to dawn on him.

"The Archangel Network." Jack piped in, seeing the plan now too.

"A telepathic field binding the whole human race together, with all of them, every single person on Earth, thinking the same thing at the same time. And that word… is Doctor."

The countdown hit zero and the Doctor began to glow, reverting back to his lanky self as the Master demanded he stop. All around the word, people thought and shouted and chanted his name as he stood.

"I've had a whole year to tune myself into the psychic network and integrate with its matrices."

"I order you to stop!" The Master shouted, but the Doctor shook his head.

"The one thing you can't do. Stop them thinking." The Doctor said, completely back to his old self and hovering off the ground. "Tell me the human race is degenerate now, when they can do this."

Martha hurried to her family as the Master drew his screwdriver, but the Doctor wasn't hit by the blast.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." He apologized and the Master pointed his screwdriver at Kris.

"Then I'll kill her!"

The Doctor disarmed him easily though, as the Mater began to back up.

"You can't do this. You can't do it. It's not fair!"

"And you know what happens now." The Doctor said softly, moving closer as the Master backed up to the wall and began to curl in on himself. "You wouldn't listen. Because you know what I'm going to say." The Doctor wrapped his arms around the Master. "I forgive you."

"My children." The Master hissed and the Toclafane went for the Tardis; making the Doctor call out to Jack.

"Captain! The Paradox Machine!"

Jack grabbed a couple of men and hurried out, distracting the Doctor for a moment; long enough for the Master to pull out Martha's Vortex Manipulator.

"No!"

The two men vanished, leaving the group panicking for the controls.

"We've got all six billion spheres heading right for us!" Martha cried out, before the Valiant shook and the Doctor and Master reappeared.

"Everyone, get down! Time is reversing!" The Doctor shouted as Kris wearily opened her eyes and he grabbed Martha with a laugh.

Kris was yanked hard away from the wall, letting out a yelp of pain as the chains on her wrist went taut and pulled harshly on her arms. She cursed under her breath, struggling to twist her slim wrists free, only for her chains to fly free from the battered wall and send her halfway across the flight deck before the Valiant stopped shuddering. The Doctor bolted up and hurried to the controls, explaining as he went.

"The paradox is broken. We've reverted back, one year and one day. Two minutes past eight in the morning."

" _This is UNIT Central. What's happened up there? We just saw the president assassinated._ " A report came over the intercom.

"Just after the President was killed, but just before the spheres arrived. Everything back to normal. Planet Earth restored. None of it happened. The rockets, the terror. It never was."

"What about the spheres?" Martha asked.

"Trapped at the end of the universe."

"But I can remember it." Francine murmured.

"We're at the eye of the storm. The only ones who'll ever know. Oh, hello." The Doctor turned cheerfully to Clive. "You must be Mr. Jones. We haven't actually met."

The Master bolted for the door, but Jack blocked his way.

"Whoa, big fella. You don't want to miss the party." Jack got some handcuffs from a guard. "So, what do we do with this one?"

"We kill him." Clive snapped.

"We execute him." Tish agreed, before a calm voice spoke up.

"Then you're just as bad as him."

All eyes went to Kris and the Doctor hurried over as she stumbled trying to stand.

"Careful now. You should probably be sitting." He said, helping to hold her upright, but she pushed off him and dove across the room for the pistol Francine had been reaching for.

She grabbed it first and lifted to aim it at Francine, who stared with wide eyes as Kris stood.

"You feel that?" Kris muttered as Francine quivered. "Because he won't. He'll look at you and smile, egging you on, pressuring you to do it. And then you shoot him, and then what? You'll feel happy for two seconds, then realization will hit you." Kris lowered the gun. "You just killed a man. You have blood on your hands and that makes you no better than him. His death won't get rid of what happened the past year. All it will do, is prove that he won. That he got you to do exactly what he wanted." She looked along the group of people before her who'd suffered at the Master's hands. "And that goes for all of you. Killing is never right and… I'm tired of watching people die."

She then grimaced, bringing a hand to her head and starting to fall, only for the Doctor to rush over and lower her carefully to the ground; taking the pistol from her and sliding it away.

"Couldn't have said it better myself." He said with a small smile, though his eyes racked over Kris's frame in concern.

"You still haven't answered the question." The Master cut in. "What happens to me?"

The Doctor shifted Kris over to the wall to keep her propped up, before standing and facing the man.

"You're my responsibility from now on. The only Time Lord left in existence."

"Yeah, but you can't trust him." Jack argued.

"No." The Doctor agreed. "The only safe place for him is the Tardis."

"You mean you're just going to keep me?" The Master said in disgust.

"Mm. If that's what I have to do. It's time to change. Maybe I've been wandering for too long. Now I've got someone to care for. Two someone's, actually." He said, giving Kris brief look, before a shot rang out and the Doctor bolted for the Master; who'd be shot by his own wife.

Jack took the weapon from a dazed Lucy and the Doctor cradled the Master on the ground.

"There you go. I've got you. I've got you."

"Always the women." The Master joked bitterly.

"I didn't see her." The Doctor tried, but the Master didn't care.

"Dying in your arms. Happy now?"

"You're not dying. Don't be stupid. It's only a bullet. Just regenerate."

"No." The Master said bluntly.

"One little bullet. Come on." The Doctor pressed, but he wasn't giving in.

"I guess you don't know me so well. I refuse."

"Regenerate. Just regenerate. Please. Please! Just regenerate. Come on."

"And spend the rest of my life imprisoned with you and mystery girl over there?" The Master scoffed.

"You've got to. Come on. It can't end like this. You and me, all the things we've done. Axons. Remember the Axons? And the Daleks. We're the only two left. There's no one else. Regenerate!" He cried.

"How about that?" The Master smiled. "I win." It faltered then. "Will it stop, Doctor? The drumming, will it stop?"

* * *

The Doctor, Martha, and Jack leaned on a railing, just looking out at the people.

"Time was… every single one of these people knew your name. Now they've all forgotten you." Martha mused.

"Good."

Jack ducked under the railing. "Back to work."

"I really don't mind though." The Doctor said, stopping him. "Come with me."

"I had plenty of time to think that past year—the year that never was—and I kept thinking about that team of mine. Like you said, Doctor, responsibility."

"Defending the Earth. Can't argue with that." The Doctor smiled, grabbing Jack's hand and sonicking his Vortex Manipulator.

"Hey, I need that!"

"I can't have you walking around with a time travelling teleport. You could go anywhere, twice. The second time to apologize."

"And what about me?" Jack asked curiously. "Can you fix that? Will I ever be able to die?"

"Nothing I can do." The Doctor said apologetically. "You're an impossible thing, Jack. You and Kris both."

"Thank her for me, will ya?" Jack smiled. "I don't know a thing about her, but she really stuck her neck out for all us little people on the Valiant."

"Will do." The Doctor nodded, before Jack made a face.

"But I keep wondering, what about aging? Because I can't die, but I keep getting older. The odd little grey hair, you know? What happens if I live for a million years?"

"I really don't know." The Doctor replied with a smile.

"Okay. Vanity. Sorry. Yeah, can't help it. Used to be a poster boy when I was a kid living on the Boeshane Peninsula. Tiny little place. I was the first one ever to be signed up for the Time Agency. They were so proud of me. The 'Face of Boe', they called me. Hm. I'll see you."

Jack hurried off then, missing the dumbfounded expressions on the Doctor and Martha's faces.

"No." The Doctor breathed out.

"It can't be."

"No. Definitely not. No. _No_."

They both laughed before the Doctor dropped Martha off at home and went back into the Tardis to wait and see. He was glad the ship was working properly again and knew he needed to check up on Kris in the med bay, but he wanted to double check something. The door creaked open and Martha walked in, making him jump up from his seat and began blabbering.

"Right then, off we go. The open road. There is a burst of starfire right now over the coast of Meta Sigmafolio. Oh, the sky is like oil on water. Fancy a look? _Or_ back in time. We could, I don't know, Charles the Second? Henry the Eighth. I know. What about Agatha Christie? I'd love to meet Agatha Christie. I bet she's brilliant." He stopped then, seeing Martha's expression. "Okay."

"I just can't." Martha said apologetically.

"Yeah."

"Spent all these years training to be a doctor. Now I've got people to look after. They saw half the planet slaughtered and, though Kris helped them some, they're devastated. I can't leave them."

"Of course not." He smiled, hugging her. "Thank you. Martha Jones, you saved the world."

"Yes, I did. I spent a lot of time with you thinking I was second best, but you know what? I am good. You going to be all right? I mean, you've got Kris back again too, but you never did tell me what happened."

The Doctor winced, rubbing the back of his neck. "We, uh, had a bit of a disagreement."

Martha was suspicious, but understood that the Doctor didn't want to talk about it and nodded. "Right then. Bye."

She kissed his cheek and made for the doors, only to walk out and back in again.

"Because the thing is, it's like my friend Vicky. She lived with this bloke, student housing, there were five of them all packed in, and this bloke was called Sean. And she loved him. She did. She completely adored him. Spent all day long talking about him." She rattled on, confusing the Doctor.

"Is this going anywhere?"

"Yes. Because he never looked at her twice. I mean, he liked her, but that was it. And she wasted years pining after him. Years of her life. Because while he was around, she never looked at anyone else. And I told her, I always said to her, time and time again, I said, get out. So this is me, getting out." She said, before passed him her mobile. "Keep that, because I'm not having you disappear. If that rings— _when_ that rings—you better come running. Got it?"

"Got it." The Doctor replied.

"I'll see you and Kris again, mister."

The Doctor leaned against the console and let out a sigh, before sending the Tardis into the Vortex. He bounded off to the med bay then, poking his head in and—upon seeing that she was still unconscious—went to sit in a chair beside the bed. His eyes softened as that guilt from before ate away at his hearts while he looked at her. A breathing mask was over her nose and mouth, fogging slightly with every breath, and the more he stared at her, the more he would count the bandages, the injuries, the scars. The more he'd remember what his initial scan came up with when he brought her in here after the mess on the Valiant. The more he'd wonder if she'd wake up again and what she'd do when she did. He had a lot of apologizing to do, after all, and he knew that it would never be enough for her after what he'd done.


	5. Trust and Fat Babies

" _Doctor?" I looked around then, and my heart sank. "Doctor?!"  
I was in an alleyway of some kind, with bins off to my right and a puddle of something about a foot away, but no Doctor, no Tardis. Nothing._

I shivered as my breath hitched, brows furrowing as slivers of cold trailed through my body.

" _I-I don't want to be alone. D-Doctor? Doctor! Please!"_

Tears welled up in my eyes as I tossed and turned, unable to hide from the nightmare, except it wasn't that, was it?

" _You knew. You knew and did nothing. That was genocide! You made that happen! You're worse than them!"_

Not a nightmare, but memories. Memories I wish never existed.

" _Not from this universe? Oh, ho, it's much more than that. You're not even human!" The Master chuckled, turning to me with a wicked grin as my pained breath fogged up a breathing mask; too exhausted to even be surprised by the information. "You're changing into something new. Oh, that is… that is_ brilliant _."_

A low moan escaped me as my entire body seemed to ache.

" _We're going to find out what you are, Charlotte. One piece at a time."_

* * *

I woke up with a start, sitting up slightly as a heart monitor nearby beeped alongside the frightened cadence of my heart. It took a moment to orientate myself and upon finding the equipment in the room vaguely familiar, I let out a muttered curse and brought a hand to my head. I was trembling slightly, still dealing with the memories of my abandonment and torture, while being glad that I was in the Tardis and not—

" _Doctor?!"_

I winced, bringing my knees up and resting my elbows on them as I grit my teeth and pressed my palms to my eyes. _Stop it. Stop it, you're fine!_ I mentally shouted.

" _Ready to have some fun, Charlotte?"_

Tears slipped through, nevertheless, as I tried to get a hold of myself and put on the emotionless mask I'd been using before.

" _P-Please! Don't leave me alone!"_

" _Charlotte~"_

" _Who do you work for?!"_

"Kris?"

I flinched at the voice that _hadn't_ come from my head, belonging to someone I really didn't want to deal with at the moment. Especially not while I was in the middle of a breakdown.

"Are you alright?"

 _No! No, of course I'm not alright! Why the_ hell _did you find that a suitable question to ask me?! Nothing's alright! I died, was dropped in a universe I know far too much about, only for you to abandon me and myself to wander back to you like a God damn puppy! Oh, and let's not forget the torture I was put through because my idiotic brain decided it would be a great idea to dangle myself in front of the starved hyena known as the Master to keep you safe!_

"Fine." I muttered, ignoring the rampaging in my head and letting out a shuddering breath. "Really. I'm fine. Just give me a minute."

He, of course, ignored what I said and instead sat down on the edge of the bed; my old thigh injury throbbing with how close he was.

"Listen, Kris… I… I'm sorry." He apologized, though I didn't lift my head. "I know that won't even begin to cover what I did to you, but… I truly am sorry. I was angry and upset and I shouldn't have taken it out on you. You were right. You did everything you should have. I underestimated you because you are— _were_ —human. The burden you have is so large that I thought you wouldn't understand the consequences and when you showed me that you did, I became suspicious. I never thought you just worked it out. I immediately assumed you were trained and what you told me about coming from another universe, the television show, everything… It just seemed so farfetched. I wasn't sure what to believe and I… I panicked. It was wrong. Everything was wrong. I should never have left you. There were a million and one things I could have done differently, but I didn't bother to trust you like you did me. It was stupid and I… I'm so sorry."

 _That's not good enough. That will never_ be _good enough._ I snapped angrily in my mind as I grit my teeth to prevent myself from saying those words out-loud. _You promise me you wouldn't, but you betrayed me. You left me alone in an alleyway with_ nothing _! I nearly starved! I was seconds from killing myself because you'd taken the only thing I had in this universe from me! You left me to die because of what?!_ _Because I did what I was supposed to and you were just too stupid to see that?! You_ told _me! You told me there was nothing I could do! Time has to go as it should, even if it hurts! I was only doing what you said! What am I supposed to do now?! I can't tell you anything! I can't stand by and_ not _do anything! Any move I make now has the possibility of putting me back in that alley and I can't_ trust _you to not do that!_ My hands were now fisted tightly in my hair as I struggled to hold everything back. _But what choice do I have?... I have nothing in this universe except my foreknowledge of you, and even that's from the creators of Doctor Who in my universe. I have no home, no body, no friends or family. And now I don't even have a mind of my own, because every move with be haunted by worries of whether you'll leave me again. If what I did was right or wrong in your eyes._

"Why do I bother…"

* * *

Four words. Not what he was expecting to hear. A simple 'get out' or 'go away' would have been appropriate. Hell, he expected her to start shouting at him; yelling furiously at him for his half-assed apology. He had known it wouldn't have changed anything, but he had to try. Regaining her trust after what he did wouldn't be easy. She'd yet to even _look_ at him since he'd entered the room, but those four words sent a chill down his spine. She was giving up, and he didn't know what to do.

She wasn't a Time Lord. She wasn't even human anymore. Yet she carried a burden heavier than he could imagine. She had been tortured, experimented on, yelled at, beaten, tossed aside and blamed. Most of which, he'd done to her himself. He couldn't help her. She wouldn't allow him. She _couldn't_ allow him. He'd hurt her once and she wasn't about to let it happen again. So what could he do other than sit there? Before this mess between them, he might have scolded her. Told her there was so much more for her to live for, but now? Now, he'd be lucky if she paid any attention to him. He had no right to reprimand her about living when he'd practically sentenced her to death by abandoning her in that alley. Not only that, but what _did_ she have to live for? It was a question he didn't have an answer to, and one _she_ didn't appear to know either. He had to do something though. _Anything._ But what?

"Are you hungry?"

He physically winced when his mouth decided that blurting _that_ out would help her somehow. Surprisingly enough though, she lifted her head.

"Yes." She murmured, still looking away from him, but slowly getting up from the bed.

"Ah, careful!" He called out, reaching for her as her legs wobbled, but stopping short when she shifted away from him. "Sorry, but you've been unconscious for a few days. Your body's still weak."

"I'm fine." She said through grit teeth, informing him that she was the opposite of that, though he didn't say a word against her. She looked down at herself then and grimaced. "Can I change first?"

He nodded hastily, rather glad that she wasn't panicking like most human women would upon realizing he'd changed her from what she was wearing earlier. Not that he was or wasn't particularly interested, but he'd needed to assess and clean her injuries as well as prevent a possible panic attack when she woke up. The likes of which would have increased significantly if she had still been wearing the clothes the Master had provided while she was in his care; if he could call it that.

"Right, Of course." He said, making for the door. "The shower's through the door on your right, if you want to take a quick one, and the Tardis will probably leave you something to change into. The, um… The blue patches are water proof, so no need to worry about those. They're medicinal bandages that will absorb into your skin as soon as they're finished helping you heal. U-Unless, you'd rather something else?"

He always got a little worried when using something technologically advanced or alien on his companions. Rose panicking about the Tardis translation matrix back with his ninth self was proof that problems could and _would_ arise if he wasn't careful and explained things properly first. Unfortunately, Kris had been unconscious when this could have been done, so he had no choice but to use the quickest means necessary to heal her; alien or otherwise. Her _reaction_ was what he was concerned about. They were already on rough territory, and adding another argument on top of that could prove disastrous.

Kris considered a blue patch on her wrist idly, before responding.

"No. It's fine. I'll… meet you in the kitchen, I guess."

He actually wanted to wait for her outside the med bay in case she would need help getting to the kitchen in her condition, but he recognized a dismissal when he saw one and nodded silently before leaving. _The Tardis will alert me if she tries anything… dangerous to her health. She'll look after her._ He convinced himself as he walked into the kitchen to wait, looking in the fridge to see what the Tardis would come up with for her to eat. A plastic box of raspberries sat on a shelf, as did a soda brand that he didn't recognize and a sandwich on a plate with a little place card with 'Kris' written on it. The Doctor couldn't help a small smile.

"You really do like her, don't you?"

The ship hummed as the Doctor gathered the items, put on his glasses from his coat and picked up the soda, looking over the name curiously.

"Where did you get this from?" He asked his ship, who ignored him cheekily. "No, don't ignore me. I've never seen this before. Not on Earth, nowhere. So where did you—" He cut himself off as understanding dawned on him and he pulled out a set of 3D glasses and looked the bottle over. "Oh, you _really_ like her then."

The bottle was surrounded with the glowing particles of the Void. It had traveled between universes. The Tardis had pulled a soda from another universe for Kris. A brand that didn't exist in this one simply because the ship thought Kris would want it. She'd never done something like that before and the Doctor put his glasses away as he curiously thought about what the drink would taste like; not hearing when Kris padded into the room, barefoot. She watched him silently with dull blue eyes, beginning to look slightly confused as he continued to eye the bottle.

"Why are you looking at it like that?" She finally said, startling him and making him nearly drop it before hastily putting it behind his back and getting up from the stool he'd sat on.

"No reason!" He then thrust it out towards her. "Here. The Tardis got it for you and, uh, this too."

He gestured to the food on the table and Kris eyed him before heading to it. The Doctor held back a wince at her cold gaze, but he wasn't sure if it was a good thing or not. On one hand, she seemed more relaxed than she had been in the med bay. On the other, she'd returned to near emotionless. He didn't care for it when she was onboard the Valiant, and he still didn't. He knew it was a jab at him though. He'd thought it was an act for the Master back then, but he knew now that it only showed how much he'd hurt her. She wouldn't trust him. Not for a long while. The way she watched him and kept her distance proved that. She wasn't about to give him another chance to chuck her out and leave her, nor would she believe him until he somehow proved it to her. And that would take time.

Even now as he searched for a banana to eat himself, she picked up the sandwich and looked at it suspiciously. The Tardis had to hum and flash her lights encouragingly before she sat down and went to eat it. The Doctor grimaced though, seeing her hover over her plate like her food was going to be taken from her and stuffing it down her throat as quickly as she could without choking. He resisted cringing again as he realized his leaving her behind probably added the risk of her starving, and forced himself to get the words out of his throat again.

"I'm sorry."

She barely stopped before setting the plate aside with half a sandwich left, and grabbing a handful of raspberries.

"You know…"

The Doctor turned to her as she frowned at a raspberry as though inspecting it for something.

"I forgave him for what he did to me."

The Doctor blinked, confused. _Is she talking about me?_

"I want to say he didn't mean to…" She looked at him as she ate the berry. "…but we both know that's not entirely true."

 _The Master._ He concluded, slightly disappointed.

"I know things about him though. Things you don't. About the drumming and such. I felt bad for him, actually, and a part of me was glad that I could see him at least a bit happy while I worked for him. Didn't like what he did at times, but… it was the Master." She paused, looking at him. "So, why is it that I can't forgive you?"

The Doctor flinched, ducking his head sorrowfully. "I'm sorry."

"I know."

"I'm so, so sorry."

"I know." She repeated, nothing changing in her expression. "But that doesn't change what happened. What's done is done, and you are going to have to live with the consequences, just as I have." She paused then. "Where are we?"

He hesitated, a little startled. "The, uh… The Vortex. Drifting."

"I missed the Titanic." She muttered, not really asking a question but stating a fact.

The Doctor didn't know why he was surprised at her amount of foreknowledge, but it would take some getting used to if he was going to keep her around.

"Is there, uh… anywhere you want to go?" He asked; hesitant because he wasn't sure how she would react to leaving the Tardis after he'd abandoned her before.

She was quiet for a moment before putting down the empty box of fruit. "The moon."

He paused. "T-The moon?"

She nodded, looking at him. "Saturn's moon."

"Um, alright." He began setting things up. "Which one?"

She shrugged. "Any one. Doesn't matter. An empty one."

 _Empty?_ He thought for a moment as the two headed to the console room and Kris picked up a pair of shoes, before he picked a moon and landed the Tardis.

"There we go. I've extended the air shield and landed us on—" He cut himself off as she walked right out the doors without hearing him. "…Mimas."

He sighed heavily, dragging a hand through his hair and trailing out after her. He was surprised to see that she didn't care about the actual landscape of the moon or the lights of the distant city of aliens that inhabited it. She had simply found a boulder and sat on it cross-legged, to stare up at Saturn in the night sky. He wasn't really sure what to do now, though. Every attempt to apologize was met with indifference and small talk didn't seem like the best idea, but remaining silent seemed worse. So he begrudgingly approached and spoke.

"Why Saturn?"

She shrugged. "Why not? I thought it'd look nice."

"Most humans would have picked Earth." He countered.

"I'm not most humans."

And while that comment would have made him smile in any other circumstances, at the moment, it only made him feel worse.

"Besides, I got to see the view of Earth from the moon the day I woke up. It's not that great if it isn't even your own planet."

 _That's right… She's from another universe. That wouldn't have even been her Earth._ The Doctor fidgeted, unsure of what to say now.

"I had two brothers." Kris said suddenly, confusing the Doctor as to why she was telling him that. "They were younger than me. Ten and twelve. They were brats, but, you know. I loved them. They would have killed for a view like this."

"Why are you telling me this?" The Doctor questioned.

"You were suspicious of me because I knew too much. I know all about you and your life up until now and far into the future. I just thought you'd want to know something about me. _Me_ , me. Not Charlotte. Couldn't tell you anything about her other than her depression and smoking and alcohol problem." She sighed heavily then. "I'll need to stop smoking again…"

"What did they look like?" The Doctor asked, moving to sit next to her. "Tell me about them."

Kris though, made to stand, brushing her pants off. "You don't want to know about them. We should head back and—"

The Doctor grabbed her wrist, stopping her as he looked up at those dull blue eyes; missing the spark he used to see in them. The joy.

"Please." He begged. "Tell me."

She hesitated, but soon nodded and sat back down, turning her gaze back up to the planet hovering in the sky before them.

"David and Nathan." She said softly, glancing back at him. "Nathan was the younger. He had a thing for trains, while David was more into animals; tigers, especially. I was helping my dad set up a pool for them at the summer cabin, before…"

The Doctor saw her gaze go distant and he thought about taking her hand, but didn't.

"Did they like space?" He asked instead, drawing her attention back to the present, and was surprised to see her smile and chuckle.

"Oh, big time."

* * *

They talked for a while about things. Her family, his, things neither of them knew about the other, but it had taken its toll on Kris. The Doctor had to help her back to her room once they returned to the Tardis, though he was pleased that the tension between them was already easing up. She was nowhere _near_ forgiving him for what he'd done, but some of the icy coldness had melted off and she tolerated him for now. He needed her to rest though, after the year that never was, having been given permission from her to do a few scans to make sure what the Master did hadn't caused any lasting defects. He was a little concerned when he thought he saw a small mass in the right side of her chest, but it was too small to determine anything so he left it alone for now. She'd mentioned before she went to bed though, to check out some diet thing on Earth and that she'd come with him once he finally decided to break into the place. He was a bit hesitant, but was happy that she was willing to at least rest like she should. She hadn't been as cooperative before.

She had been right though, and he found Adipose Industries more than suspicious. Diet pills that worked? And their slogan concerned him, especially after he'd visited a customer's home to find out that his alarm had been going off and that he had a cat flap. _The fat just walks away. Literally._ He obviously couldn't leave that be and when he moved the Tardis closer to the building, it was as though he'd given Kris a signal. She'd walked into the console room a moment later, bundled up in a dark grey turtleneck, coat, and jeans with black boots and her hands tucked into her pockets.

"Ready?" She asked and he hesitated.

"Are you sure you don't want to rest more? It's only been a day or so."

He could tell the clothes were still very loose on her and she was limping slightly, though he assumed it was psychosomatic since that was where she'd been hurt before he'd left her. She didn't look great though, and he wasn't sure if she'd slept or not since he'd been gone. The dark bags under her eyes said no.

"I'm fine. I need to do _something_." She said, looking at him seriously. "I'm sure you would understand that."

He begrudgingly nodded and they headed out to Adipose Industries. He was quick to sonic the lock into the building and retreated into a storage room with Kris; locking it and flipping over a couple of buckets.

"And now, we wait."

Kris gave him a look, but sat on a bucket, pulling out a book to read. "You could have just broken in when it was night, instead of making us wait in a closet for twelve hours."

"Security would have been tighter."

"Like you don't know how to get past security."

The Doctor pouted. "Then _you_ can plan the next one."

"Alright."

He whipped around to her at that and she glanced up briefly.

"I'm _kidding_." She said, before they settled in for the wait.

* * *

The Doctor and I were slowly lowered to the window of Foster's office, ducking behind the wall as the woman herself walked in with the reporter. The Doctor pulled out a stethoscope, offering me an end, but I waved him off as he listened in. It was a bit chilly outside and I pulled my coat closer around me, wishing I had some more 'meat on my bones', as it were. The Doctor sat up then though, peering through the window and I joined him, if only for a peek at the Adipose. The little blob was cute; a nice change from the usual aliens we encountered and a little pick up to my day.

I was exhausted, honestly. My body ached and most of the blue patches were still very much present. I was wishing that the scar on my thigh would stop throbbing in the presence of the Doctor, but I knew that would take a long while to deal with, just as forgiving him would. I hadn't been able to sleep either, fearing the moment I would close my eyes only to find myself alone again or in the Master's clutches. And currently, I was questioning why I even bothered to come on this adventure with him. Everything goes well. He saves the Earth, meets Donna again, takes her with him and life moves on. Foster's death was a minor bump in the road, but what could _I_ do about it? Trying to help was what had gotten me dropped off in the alleyway in the first place.

"Going up!"

I jumped, cursing myself for dwelling in my own thoughts long enough to miss the conversation between the Doctor and Donna, as well as for being startled by his voice as he brought us back up onto the roof. He pulled me along by the wrist, probably not even knowing he'd unconsciously grabbed me in his rush to get us back into the building. The running down the stairs did nothing to help ease the pain I was dealing with, but I couldn't help but admit I'd missed it. Then we pulled to a stop as the Doctor released my hand and embraced Donna on the stairs; us having bumped into each other and giving me a chance to catch my breath.

"Oh my God!" The red-headed woman gasped. "I don't believe it. You've even got the same suit! Don't you ever change?"

"Yeah, thanks Donna. Not right now." He said as I looked down over the railing. "That's Kris, by the way. Kris, Donna."

I waved a hand, still looking at the guards below." Yeah, hi. Guards? Two floors down and incoming?"

The Doctor grinned at Donna. "Just like old times!"

We bolted back up to the roof and I was heavily limping and out of breath once we reached the top. Donna was hardly winded.

"Because I thought, how do you find the Doctor? And then I just thought, look for trouble and then he'll turn up. So I looked everywhere. You name it. UFOs, sightings, crop circles, sea monsters. I looked, I found them all. Like that stuff about the bees disappearing, I thought, I bet he's connected. Because the thing is, Doctor, I believe it all now. You opened my eyes. All those amazing things out there, I believe them all. Well, apart from that replica of the Titanic flying over Buckingham Palace on Christmas Day. I mean, that's got to be a hoax." She rattled on as the Doctor finished sonicking the window-washer's cradle we'd be in.

"What do you mean, the bees are disappearing?" He asked, spotting me as I panted. "You alright?"

"Peachy." I grumbled, earning a wince from him as I climbed up into the cradle with him on my heels; Donna down below answering his question.

"I don't know. That's what it says on the internet. Well, on the same site, there was all these conspiracy theories about Adipose Industries and I thought, let's take a look."

"In you get!" He called down to her and she gave him a look.

"What? In that thing?"

"Yes, in that thing." He replied.

"But if we go down in that, they'll just call us back up again." She argued and he shook his head.

"No, no, no, because I've locked the controls with a sonic cage. I'm the only one that can control it. Not unless she's got a sonic device of her own, which is very unlikely."

"You'll jinx yourself." I muttered once Donna was in, and he gave me a look as we descended.

"Nah. It's fine." He said, just as the lift sparked and we began to fall.

The Doctor quickly pulled the lift to a halt with his sonic, throwing us all back against the floor.

"Told you."

He stood with Donna, but I remained sitting as he tried to get the window open.

"No good. She's deadlocked the building." I mused as his sonic failed to open it. "And we can't smash it, Donna."

She turned to me in shock. "How did you know I was thinkin' that?"

"Long story." The Doctor replied, looking rather put out.

"She's cuttin' the cable!" Donna cried out and the Doctor looked up as I stood and grabbed Donna's hand.

She looked at me in confusion, but I pressed it firmly to the railing just as the cable gave way and the cradle tilted violently; Donna reflexively grabbing a hold. I tried to get a grip as well, but the tool box that had been sitting in the bottom of the cradle slammed harshly into my old leg injury. I was lucky I grabbed a hold of the cable, much less prevented Donna from being in my place.

"Kris!"

"I'm fine, you nitwit!" I shouted back, keeping my eyes shut to prevent looking at the dizzying height below. "She's going to try and cut the other cable!"

I felt the cable slacken a bit, from where he had been trying to pull me up and soon heard the loud pop of him getting Foster's sonic. The cradle wobbled and I heard Donna complain a bit, but the wind whistled loudly in my ears and I snapped my eyes open fearfully as the cable I was hanging onto swung in the breeze. That was a bad idea. Seeing how far up I was, was petrifying. I wasn't afraid of heights or anything—I don't believe Charlotte was either—but falling was another thing entirely.

"I won't be a minute!" The Doctor's voice called out.

"I'll just hang out then!" I chimed back, voice tight despite the joke.

My shoulders burned and my arms ached terribly at the strain I was putting on them, before one hand slipped. I cursed, swinging by one arm as I tried to swing my arm up and grab the metal I was clinging to. Thankfully, someone grabbed a hold of my legs.

"I've got you! I've got you!" The Doctor called out and I managed to climb down the cable a bit so he could pull me in; Donna standing behind him as I held the Doctor's suit with shaking arms.

"I was right. It's always like this with you, isn't it?"

"Oh, yes." The Doctor smirked before glancing down at me. "You alright?"

I quickly released him and pulled my forehead away from his chest; mentally cursing myself for the moment of weakness.

"L-Let's string _you_ up the side of a building and see how you fair." I grumbled with pink cheeks. "Ah, but we better go thought. Foster is on her way down."

He nodded, taking my hand in his again, though I reached into his pocket and pulled out his sonic.

"What are you—"

I sonicked the journalist free and gave the Doctor a look as I passed his sonic back. "Giving her a chance to leave, though I doubt she'll take it."

"Well, alright. Off we go!"

We were, of course, stopped by Miss Foster and her guards.

"Well, then. At last."

"Hello." Donna greeted hesitantly and the Doctor followed along.

"Nice to meet you. I'm the Doctor and this is Kris."

"And I'm Donna."

"Partners in crime." Foster mused, looking the group of us over. "And evidently off-worlders, judging by your sonic technology."

"Oh, yes. I've still got your sonic pen. Nice. I like it. Sleek. It's kind of sleek." The Doctor rambled, looking said object over and showing it to Donna and I.

"Oh, it's definitely sleek." Donna replied while I just rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, and if you were to sign your real name, that would be?" The Doctor asked.

"Matron Cofelia of the Five Straighten Classabindi Nursery Fleet. Intergalactic Class."

"A wet nurse, using humans as surrogates."

Foster explained. "I've been employed by the Adiposian First Family to foster a new generation after their breeding planet was lost."

The Doctor frowned, giving me a brief glance as he spoke next. "What do you mean, 'lost'? How do you lose a planet?"

"Oh, politics are none of my concern. I'm just here to take care of the children on behalf of the parents."

"What? Like an outer space super nanny?" Donna gaped.

"Yes, if you like."

"So… So those little things."

"They're fat, Donna." I explained.

"Yeah, but that woman. Stacy Campbell. There was nothing left of her."

"Oh, in a crisis the Adipose can convert bone and hair and internal organs. Makes them a little bit sick, poor things."

"What about poor Stacy?"

"She already said, Donna." I said quietly. "She's just here for the kids. What happens in the process doesn't matter."

The Doctor ignored the two of us and glared at Miss Foster. "Seeding a level five planet is against galactic law."

"Are you threatening me?"

"I'm trying to help you, Matron. This is your one chance, because if you don't call this off, then I'll have to stop you."

"I hardly think you can stop bullets."

The guards lifted their guns, but I nudged the Doctor and mouthed 'sonics' to him.

"No, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. One more thing before dying. Do you know what happens if you hold two identical sonic devices against each other?" He lifted the screwdriver and pen as I grabbed Donna's hands and got her to cover her ears while I did the same.

"…No."

"Nor me. Let's find out."

Even with our hands over our ears, Donna and I grimaced in pain as the two sonics screeched. Donna wasn't moving though, so I shoved the Doctor myself to get him to stop and get us running.

"Run!"

We raced down to the lower levels and the Doctor hurried into a janitor's cupboard and started throwing things out as I sank to the floor with my back against the wall, gasping for breath.

"Well, that's one solution." Donna smiled, slightly out of breath herself. "Hide in a cupboard. I like it."

The Doctor had a reason though and explained as he pushed aside a panel in the wall.

"I've been hacking into this thing all day, because the Matron's got a computer core running through the center of the building. Triple deadlocked. But now I've got this…" He held up the sonic pen. "I can get into it."

"The guards." I panted out and the Doctor nodded.

"On it. Just enough to stop them." He frowned though, looking over the device in the wall as I watched from my place. "Why's she wired up the tower block? What's it all for?"

I saw his brief glance at me, though he tried to be subtle about it and I sighed.

"Mass transmission. Stacy Campbell times a million."

"Not good." He murmured as Donna watched him fiddle with the device.

"You look older."

"Thanks."

She glanced at me. "Not on your own then either."

"Yup." He commented. "But I had this friend too. Martha she was called. Martha Jones. She was brilliant and I destroyed half her life." He looked at me. "Did much worse to Kris."

Donna was looking at him in concern, so he quickly backtracked.

"But she's fine. She's good. She's gone…"

"What about Rose?"

"Still lost." He murmured, changing the subject. "I thought you were going to travel the world?"

Donna scoffed. "Easier said than done. It's like I had that one day with you, and I was going to change. I was going to do so much. Then I woke up the next morning, same old life. It's like you were never there. And I tried. I did try. I went to Egypt. I was going to go barefoot and everything. And then it's all bus trips and guidebooks and don't drink the water, and two weeks later you're back home. It's nothing like being with you. I must have been mad turning down that offer."

"What offer?"

"To come with you."

"Come with me?" he questioned and, instead of being offended by his apparent forgetfulness, she grinned.

"Oh, yes. Please."

"Right." He breathed out, not really seeing what he'd gotten himself into, just before the device went off.

" _Inducer activated._ "

"What'd it doing now?"

"She's started the program." The Doctor murmured, growing more frantic. "So far they're just losing weight, but the Matron's gone up to emergency pathogenesis."

"And that's when they convert…" Donna realized.

"Skeletons, organs, everything. A million people are going to die. Got to cancel the signal." He showed her the pendant. "This contains a primary signal. If I can switch it off, the fat goes back to being just fat."

"You need two." I commented as he attached it and he frowned.

"What? No, I don't."

" _Inducer increasing._ "

His mouth dropped open as I replied back in annoyance.

" _Yeah_ , you do."

"She's doubled it. I need. Haven't got time. It's too far. I can't override it. They're all gonna die!"

I nudged Donna and she looked at me in confusion. "He needs two."

She mouthed and 'oh' and pulled out her pendant as well as the Doctor panicked.

"I need a second capsule to boost the override, but I've only got the one. I can't save them—" He looked up at her when she hung the pendant in front of him and she raised a brow with a smirk before he grinned and used it to shut the device down.

"Idiot." I grumbled, stretching with a wince. "You should pay more attention to what you've got around you. _Who_ you've got around you."

He gave me a small smile. "Well, that's awfully deep coming from you."

I frowned and smacked his arm as he chuckled. "Shut up and let's go. The nursery's going to be here any—"

I was cut off by the loud rumble of the approaching ship and sighed as Donna gave us both a look.

"When you said nursery, you don't mean a crush in Notting Hill."

I blinked, confused by the reference, but the Doctor gave her a small nod.

"Nursery ship."

" _Incoming signal._ " The controls behind him announced and he frowned at the alien voice coming from it.

"Hadn't we better go and stop them?" Donna asked."

"Hang on. Instructions from the Adiposian First Family."

I shook my head, grabbing his arm to keep him from listening to the device. "No time. Foster's the one in trouble now. We gotta go."

"What? Go where? What do you mean?" Donna asked and I sighed heavily.

"Look, I'll make this short. I died in another universe and ended up in this body. I watched a show in my universe that was based heavily on this one, so I basically know the future. And right now, we need to get to the roof to make _some_ attempt to keep Foster from falling to her death when the Adiposian Family ditch her to keep her silent about their little illegal planet seeding or whatever you called it." I waved off at the Doctor and Donna's mouth hung open in shock.

"You know the future?!"

"Bits of it, yeah." I muttered as we hurried up the stairs.

"That's brilliant!"

"No." I argued, keeping my gaze stubbornly straight ahead. "No, it's not."

* * *

Donna stared in amazement at the levitation beams carrying Adipose up on-board the nursery ship.

"What are you going to do then? Blow them up?"

"They're just children. They can't help where they came from."

"Oh, well that makes a change from last time." Donna remarked, not seeing Kris wince ever so slightly. "That Martha must have done you good."

"She did, yeah. Yeah, yeah. She did." The Doctor sighed out, glancing at Kris sadly before trying to lighten the mood. "She fancied me."

"Mad Martha, that one. Blind Martha. Charity Martha." Donna looked at Kris. "You fancy him too then?"

"No." Kris replied bluntly, staring up at the Adipose solemnly as Donna nudged the Doctor and spoke under her breath.

"Tough case, that one."

"Tell me about it." He murmured back, the group spotting a waving Adipose and two of the three of them waving back.

"I'm waving at fat." Donna remarked with a grin.

"Actually, as a diet plan, it sort of works." He spotted Foster then, hovering just below the Adipose. "There she is!"

The trio rushed to the edge of the building as he tried to get the woman to see what was going to happen.

"Matron Cofelia, listen to me."

"Oh, I don't think so, Doctor. And if I never see you again, it'll be too soon."

"Oh, why does no one ever listen." He complained, waving her towards them. "I'm trying to help. Just get across to the roof. Can you shift the levitation beam?"

"What? So, you can arrest me?" She scoffed and Kris looked at her seriously.

"You'll die, if you don't."

The Doctor nodded frantically. "I saw the Adiposian instructions. They know it's a crime, breeding on Earth. So, what's the one thing they want to get rid of? Their accomplice."

"I'm far more than that. I'm nanny to all these children."

"You idiot!" Kris snapped. "What the hell is the use of a nanny if they're with their parents?!"

She reached out desperately, but it was too late. Foster fell to the ground with a sickening 'thud' and the Doctor tucked Donna to his chest as Kris grimaced at the scene below. Once the ship was gone, the Doctor and Donna turned to go head back downstairs. Kris hadn't moved from the edge though, so the Doctor doubled back and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Come on. There was nothing you could have done."

She shrugged him off, snapping bitterly under her breath. "There was _plenty_."

He wanted to argue with her as she stormed off, but bit his tongue. Now wasn't the time. _Perhaps once we're back in the Tardis…_ The group was soon downstairs—Kris watching the ambulances for a moment—before they were accosted by the journalist and Donna tugged the Doctor along to get him to take her to his ship. She was rather stunned to find her car sitting in the same alleyway he'd parked, and proceeded to pull bags out of the trunk and pass them over to the Doctor and Kris.

"I don't need injections, do I? You know, like when you go to Cambodia. Is there any of that? Because my friend Veena went to Bahrain, and she…" She trailed off as Kris put down her luggage and rubbed at her shoulders. "You're not saying much."

"No, it's just…" The Doctor looked at her seriously. "It's a funny old life, in the Tardis."

"You don't want me…" Donna muttered, heartbroken.

"I'm not saying that."

"But you asked me. Is it because you've got her? Is that it?" Donna demanded to know thrusting a finger at Kris, who just blinked dully. "Some angry-faced, boring, crippled whoever?"

" _Donna_." The Doctor snapped, but Kris cut in.

"It's fine, Doctor." She said calmly, not even looking bothered. "Explain it to her properly. I'll wait for you two in the Tardis."

"Kris, wait. You should—"

"No, Doctor." She said, looking at him from over her shoulder in the doorway. "It's your decision. Your ship, your home, your life. I'm just along for the ride, remember?"

She closed the door behind her and the Doctor groaned, pulling both his hands through his hair in frustration.

"Just when I was getting somewhere with her." He muttered, before turning to Donna. "Look, the last time—with Martha—like I said, it, it got complicated. And that was all my fault. I just want a mate."

"You just want to mate?!" Donna exclaimed.

"I just want a mate!" He corrected, but she wasn't listening.

"You're note mating with me, sunshine!"

"A mate! I want a mate!" He emphasized and she squared her shoulders with a huff.

"Well, just as well, because I'm not having any of that nonsense. I mean, you're just a long streak of nothing. You know, alien nothing. You'd have a better chance with Miss Cranky in there." She said, tossing a thumb over her shoulder at the Tardis.

"I'd have even _less_ of a chance, honestly." He said under his breath.

"Sorry?"

"Ah, well, there we are then." He said with a clearing of his throat. "Okay."

"I can come?"

"Yeah. Course you can, yeah." He smiled. "I'd love it."

"Oh, that's just—" She went to hug him, but pulled away. "Car keys."

"What?"

"I've still got my mum's car keys. I won't be a minute." She hurried off and the Doctor begrudgingly started picking up her heavy luggage bags and carrying them in.

Once finished, he leaned up against the console to wait for Donna, but looked over at Kris in the jump-seat as she massaged her leg.

"She didn't mean it." He said, making Kris glance up briefly. "Sure, you're a bit grumpy, but you're not boring. And once you get your strength back up, you'll be walking fine in no time."

Kris frowned at him then. "It's psychosomatic. And I know she didn't mean it. She was just being Donna."

"Right…" He rubbed the back of his neck, uncomfortable in the silence. "You okay?"

"Fine. A bit sore, but nothing I can't deal with." She replied.

"I meant with what happened… to Foster."

She paused. "What do you care?"

He frowned. "I just want to help you, Kris. I know what I did to you was wrong and it's going to take a lot to get you to trust me again, but I want you to know that you can _talk_ to me. I understand what's going on with you now, and if you would just talk to me, then—"

"What the _hell_ do you understand about me?" She snapped at him, temper flaring. "And why would I tell you _anything_ about my insecurities when you're the damn idiot who caused most of them!"

The Doctor's patience snapped as well. "I'm just trying to fix what I screwed up, okay?! You've only _got me_ to help you!" He lowered his voice, trying to reign himself in. "And I've only got you. You understand me, Kris. Better than Martha or Donna ever could."

"Because I know about you." She argued, though her temper had faded as well.

"And I want to get to know _you_ better." He urged, looking at her desperately and trying to get her to understand what he was trying to do. "Please, Kris."

She was silent for a minute or two before she gave in. "Later. Not with Donna around."

He smiled, hopeful. They _were_ kind of stuck with each other, after all. The lonely Time Lord and the overburdened non-human. What could go wrong?


End file.
